HE 


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1 


\XWELL 


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THE  GIFT  OF 

MAY  TREAT  MORRISON 

IN  MEMORY  OF 

ALEXANDER  F  MORRISON 


5 


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THE  crep:vey  papers 


First  Edition  .  , 

Reprinted     .     .  .  . 

Reprinted    .     .  .  . 

Reprinted    .     .  .  . 

Second  Edition  .    , 
{Fifth  Impression) 

Reprinted    .     .     .     . 
One  Vol.  Edition  . 


November^  iQOS- 
December^  1903. 
January,  1904. 
Jamiary,  1904. 
February,  1904. 

February,  1904. 
March,  1904. 


^Jnonid.i    ' ^rrfccu. 


THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS 

A    SELECTION    FROM   THE   CORRES- 
PONDENCE &  DIARIES  OF  THE  LATE 
THOMAS   CREEVEY,  M.P. 

BORN    1768— DIED    1838 

EDITED    BY 

THE   RIGHT  HON.   SIR  HERBERT   MAXWELL 

BART.,    M.F.,   LL.D.,    F.R.S. 


WITH   PORTRAITS 


NEW    YORK 

E.    F.    BUTTON    &    COMPANY 

1904 


Printed  in  Great  Britain. 


PRINTED    BY    WILUAM    CLOWES   AND   SONS,    LUUTED, 
LONDON   AND   BBCCLBS. 


INTRODUCTION. 


"How  little,"  exclaims  Mr.  Birrell,  in  his  recent 
memoir  of  William  Hazlitt,  "  how  little  is  it  we  know 
about  the  character  of  a  dead  man  we  never  saw ! " 
Little  enough,  as  a  rule,  of  the  performer,  even  when 
the  part  he  has  played  has  been  historical ;  still  less 
when  his  natural  gifts  have  not  availed  to  raise  him 
to  distinction,  or  circumstances  refused  him  a  place 
above  the  common  run  of  his  kind.  Nevertheless  it 
is  given  to  certain  men  of  subordinate  importance  in 
their  day  so  to  reveal  themselves  in  correspondence 
or,  more  rarel}^,  in  their  journals,  as  to  leave  upon 
him  who,  in  after  years,  shall  stir  the  venerable  store 
and  decipher  the  faded  pages,  an  impression  of  their 
personality  so  vivid  as  to  convince  him  of  the 
writer's  character  and  motives. 

Of  such  was  Thomas  Creevey,  sometime  member 
of  Parliament  forThetford,  and  afterwards  for  Appleby 
— both  of  them  pocket  boroughs  of  the  most  unre- 
generate  type.  Born  in  Liverpool  in  March,  1768,  he 
was  the  son  of  William  Creevey,  merchant  of  that 
city,  and  certain  allusions  in  his  correspondence  seem 
to  show  that  his  parents  were  natives  of  Ireland.  But 
Creevey  himself  seems  to  have  been  pretty  much  in 


428800 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

the  dark  as  to  his  own  pedigree.  He  formed  an  early 
and  intimate  friendship  with  Dr.  J.  Currie,  a  dis- 
tinguished physician  and  leading  citizen  of  Liverpool,* 
who  writes  as  follows  in  1803  : — 

"  Well,  I  know  all  about  your  birth  and  parentage. 
You  came  originally  from  Galloway  in  Scotland,  and 
settled  on  the  Irish  coast  right  opposite,  within  sight 
of  the  sweet  country  you  had  left — you  are  of  an 
ancient  Scottish  family  in  that  county,  now  nearly 
extinct  (except  that  it  revives  in  your  own  person) 
to  whom  belonged  the  castle  and  manor  of  Castle 
Creevey  near  Glenluce  (with  which  I  am  perfectly 
acquainted)  now  in  the  family  of  Lord  Selkirk,  1 
believe.  Then  j^our  grandfather  who  was  an  officer 
in  the  army,  if  not  born  was  certainly  begotten  in 
Scotland,  and  as  far  as  Mrs.  Eaton  and  I  can  ascertain 
the  fact,  in  the  very  town  of  Dumfries — but  that  we 
won't  be  sure  of. — And  to  come  to  the  point,  it  would 
not  be  at  all  surprising  if  in  the  last  500  years  some 
of  our  ancestors  had  joined  issue  together,  and  if  our 
great-grandfathers,  ten  or  twenty  times  removed,  had 
been  one  and  the  same  person!" 

Now  in  one  respect,  at  least,  the  learned  doctor's 
statements  herein  will  not  bear  examination.  Castle 
Creavie,  indeed,  is  in  Gallowaj^;  but  it  is  not  near 
Glenluce,  which  is  in  Wigtownshire  (Western  Gallo- 
way), and  it  never  belonged  to  the  famil}^  of  Lord 
Selkirk.  It  is  a  farm  in  Rerwick  parish,  in  the 
Stewartr\^  of  Kircudbright  (Eastern  Galloway), 
distant  fully  fifty  miles  from  Glenluce,  and  has 
been  owned  successively  by  different  families;  but 
not  since  1646,  at  least,  by  any  of  the  name  of 
Creevey  or  Creavie.     Neither  is  there,  nor  has  there 

*  James  Currie,  M.D.  [1756-1S05],  son  of  a  Scottish  minister, 
emigi-ated  to  Virginia  in  177 1,  where  he  studied  medicine.  Returning 
to  Great  Britain  in  1777,  he  continued  his  studies  at  Edinburgh 
University,  and  ultimately  became  the  chief  exponent  of  the  cold-water 
cure,  and  the  advocate  of  thermometrical  observations  in  fever. 


INTRODUCTION.  Vll 

been,  any  castle  there,  although  the  prefix  doubtless 
was  derived  from  a  couple  of  pre-historic  hill  forts, 
of  which  the  mounds  remain  on  the  north  and  east  of 
the  present  farmhouse.* 

This  Thomas  Creevey  was  educated  at  a  grammar 
school  at»  Hackney — "old  School  Lane,"  he  calls  it — 
and  at  Queens  College,  Cambridge,  graduating  B.A, 
as  seventh  wrangler  in  1789,  and  M.A.  in  1792.  On 
9th  November,  1789,  he  was  admitted  student  of  the 
Inner  Temple,  and  on  7th  November,  1791,  of  Gray's 
Inn ;  being  called  to  the  Bar  on  27th  June,  1794.  The 
voluminous  correspondence  and  fragmentary  journals 
left  by  him  afford  no  explanation  of  how  he  obtained 
in  1802  the  Duke  of  Norfolk's  nomination  for  the 
snug  little  borough  of  Thetford  with  its  thirty-one 
docile  electors.  That  year  was  notable  for  another 
important  event  in  his  life,  namely,  his  marriage  with 
the  widow  of  William  Ord,  Esq.,  of  Fenham,  New- 
minster  Abbey,  and  Whitfield.  This  lady,  who  was 
the  daughter  of  Charles  Brandling,  Esq.,  of  Gosforth 
House,  M.P.  for  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  was  possessed 
of  comfortable,  if  not  of  considerable,  means.  To 
her  first  husband  she  had  borne  two  sons  and  four 
daughters  ;  and  one  of  these  daughters,  Elizabeth  Ord, 
who  never  married,  became  her  step-father's  confidante 
and  favourite  correspondent.  After  their  mother's 
death  in  181 8,  the  Miss  Ords  lived  at  Rivenhall  in 
Essex,  and  in  Cheltenham ;  and  Miss  Elizabeth  corre- 
sponded regularly  with  Mr.  Creeve}^  whose  industry 
and  volubility  in  response  are  truly  amazing.  A  large 
proportion  of  the  following  pages  are  filled  with 
extracts  from  these  letters — extracts  which  probably 

*  Land  and  their   Oivners   in    Gallou'ay.,  by    P.    H.   McKerlie, 
vol.  V.  p.  1 13. 


Vlll  INTRODUCTION. 

do  not  amount  to  more  than  one-fiftieth  of  the  whole. 
As  time  went  on,  Mr.  Creevey  conceived  the  idea  of 
compiling  a  history  of  his  own  times,  and  used  to  tell 
Miss  Elizabeth  Ord  to  keep  his  letters,  "  for,"  said  he, 
"  in  future  times  the  Creevey  Papers  may  form  a 
curious  collection." 

In  regard  to  the  papers  as  a  whole,  Miss  Ord  faith- 
fully observed  her  step-father's  instructions.  They 
have  been  admirably  kept ;  many  of  them  having 
been  copied  out  in  her  clear,  pretty  handwriting — an 
immense  advantage  to  the  present  editor,  for  Mr. 
Creevey's  penmanship  was  simply  execrable.  It  is 
characteristic  of  such  matters  that  some  of  the  events 
and  episodes  of  which  Creevey  thought  it  most 
important  to  leave  a  detailed  record,  have  parted  with 
much  of  their  moment,  having  received  full  explana- 
tion and  description  from  other  sources.  What  the 
modern  reader  is  most  likely  to  enjoy  are  the  gossip 
of  a  bygone  day,  side-lights  on  society  of  the  late 
Georgian  era,  and  traits  and  illustrations  of  persons 
who  figured  prominently  on  the  stage  of  public  life. 
Creevey  was  admirably  equipped  as  a  purveyor  of 
such  information.  His  activit}^  must  have  been  as 
ceaseless  as  his  curiosity  was  insatiable.  His  was 
one  of  those  active  intellects  not  of  the  first,  nor  even 
of  the  second,  order,  amassing  details  of  the  busy  life 
in  which  they  are  cast,  recording  traits  and  chronicling 
episodes  whereon  the  greater  actors  have  no  attention 
to  bestow  or  time  to  dwell,  and  revealing  his  private 
motives  and  animosities  with  an  almost  Pepysian 
frankness.  A  very  poor  man  most  of  his  days,  for 
with  his  wife  Creevey  lost  whatever  income  she 
brought  to  him,  he  must  have  had  social  and  conver- 
sational   powers   of  no    mean    order   to    attract   the 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

endless  hospitality  of  which  he  was  the  subject,  and 
which  he  was  wholly  unable  to  return.  The  repository 
of  innumerable  confidences  from  persons  of  both  sexes, 
it  must  be  confessed  that  he  was  not  always  very 
scrupulous  in  observing  the  seal  of  secrecy,  neither 
has  it  appeared  expedient,  even  at  this  distance  of 
time,  to  dispense  with  a  severe  system  of  selection  in 
dealing  with  his  chroniquc  scandalciisc. 

It  is  natural  to  compare  a  collection  such  as  this 
with  the  well-known  "  Croker    Papers  "  which  have 
already  seen  the  light,  and  indeed  they  cover  much 
the  same  ground,  but  from  an  opposite  point  of  view. 
John  Wilson  Croker  was  a  Tory,  and  his  party  were 
in  office  during   the  long,  weary  years  when  it  was 
the  lot  of  Thomas  Creeve}^  and  his  friends  to  gnash 
their  teeth   in   opposition.      The  two  men   probably 
were  of  not  unequal  calibre.      Creevey  had  not  the 
literary  turn  of  Croker ;  but  it  was  opportunity  alone 
which  prevented   him    becoming   at   least   as    distin- 
guished a  legislator  as  the  other;  and,  had  the  fortune 
and  position  of  parties  been  reversed,  Creevey  would, 
in  all  likelihood,  have  attained  to  higher  office  than 
Croker  ever  filled.     He   had  been  but  four  years  in 
Parliament  when,  after  Pitt's  death,  the  brief  "  All-the- 
Talents  "  Ministry  was  formed,  and  in  this  he  received 
the  office  of  Secretary  to  the  Board  of  Control.      By 
the  time  his  party  came  into  power  again,  Creevey 
was  sixty-two,  and  had  lost  his  seat ;  but  his  services 
received    instant    recognition    b}^    his    appointment, 
despite   his   age,    first   to   the    Treasurership   of  the 
Ordnance,    and    afterwards    to    that    of    Greenwich 
Hospital. 

If  any  evidence  were  wanting  as  to  the  disunion 
and  its  causes,  which  sapped  the  efficacy  of  the  Whig 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

opposition  during  the  first  thirty  years  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  it  is  amply  forthcoming  in  Creevey's 
letters,  and  nobody  can  complain  that  it  is  not  ex- 
pressed in  forcible  enough  language.  It  must  ever  be 
a  source  of  wonder  to  the  student  of  history  how  the 
Tory  Government  weathered  the  stress  and  storm  of 
those  years.  For  twenty  years  a  mighty  war,  taxing 
to  the  utmost  the  physical  resources  of  a  popula- 
tion not  exceeding  fifteen  millions,  was  sustained 
at  the  cost  of  a  crushing  increment  of  debt.  The  fall 
in  prices  suddenly  ensuing  upon  the  peace  of  1815, 
plunged  the  whole  agricultural  community  into  dire 
distress,  and  was  accompanied  by  an  almost  total 
cessation  of  continental  demand  for  British  manufac- 
tures, arising  from  the  utter  loss  of  buying  power  in 
foreign  markets,  which  involved  the  artisan  population 
in  the  terrible  distress.  Nor  was  this  all,  though 
well  it  might  be  reckoned  enough  to  bring  about  the 
fall  of  any  administration.  Ministers  groaned  under 
the  affliction  of  a  mad  King  and  a  deplorable  Regent. 
The  whole  heart  of  the  nation  was  stirred  against 
the  Administration  by  reason  of  the  part  assigned 
to  Ministers  in  the  proceedings  against  Queen 
Caroline.  How  was  it  that  they  survived  a  single 
session  '^ 

The  answer  may  be  clearly  read  in  Creevey's 
correspondence.  First,  in  regard  to  the  war,  the 
people  were  practically  of  one  mind — to  see  it  through. 
It  has  ever  been  so  in  our  country,  and  please  God  it 
ever  shall  be  so  !  Once  let  the  drums  beat  the  point 
of  war,  and  they  rouse  an  echo  in  British  hearts 
which  dies  not  away  till  the  thing  has  been  carried  to 
a  finish.  Men  will  not  listen  to  those  counsellors 
who  would  have  them  believe  that  the  policy  which 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

led  to  war  was  foolish  or  wrong — na^',  they  will  not 
pause  to  weigh  even  the  justice  of  the  cause.  Of  all 
sentiments,  patriotism  is  perhaps  one  of  those  least 
amenable  to  reason — the  least  calculating  ;  those  that 
hesitate  in  the  crisis,  still  more  those  who  carp  and 
thwart,  become  by  force  of  circumstance  and  quite  apart 
from  their  own  honesty  of  opinion,  the  anti-national 
party.  We  have  seen  the  same  in  every  great  war 
that  it  has  been  the  lot  of  England  to  wage ;  and  it  is 
the  knovk/'ledge  of  this  and  the  feeling  that  lies  deepest 
in  every  Briton's  heart,  that  disorganises  opposition 
at  such  times.  The  extreme  men  move  resolutions 
which  the  moderate  men  will  not  support ;  then,  when 
the  moderates  agree  upon  a  line  of  action,  the  others 
stand  resentfully  aloof  Perhaps  the  most  interesting 
and  instructive  political  passages  in  these  papers  are 
those  in  which  are  revealed  the  most  secret  counsels 
of  the  opposition,  and  the  course  of  action  which 
repeatedly  saved  Lord  Liverpool's  administration 
from  shipwreck. 

References  to  Thomas  Creevey  in  the  published 
writings  of  his  contemporaries  are  few,  and  for  the 
most  part  slight.  The  fullest  notice  I  have  en- 
countered is  in  some  passages  in  the  Journal  of 
Charles  Greville. 

Writing  in  1829,  he  has  the  following: — 

"  Old  Creevey  is  rather  an  extraordinary  character. 
1  know  nothing  of  the  early  part  of  his  history,  but  I 
believe  he  was  an  attorney  or  barrister ;  he  married  a 
widow,  who  died  a  few  years  ago  ;  she  had  something, 
he  nothing;  he  got  into  Parliament,  belonged  to  the 
Whigs,  displayed  a  good  deal  of  shrewdness  and 
humour,  and  was  for  some  time  very  troublesome  to 
the  Tory  Government  by  continually  attacking  abuses. 
After  some  time  he  lost  his  seat,  and  went  to  live  at 


Xll  INTRODUCTION. 

Brussels,  where  he  became  intimate  with  the  Duke  of 
Wellington.  Then  his  wife  died,  upon  which  event  he 
was  thrown  upon  the  world  with  about  i^2oo  a  year  or 
less  ;  no  home,  few  connections,  a  great  many  acquaint- 
ances, a  good  constitution  and  extraordinary  spirits. 
He  possesses  nothing  but  his  clothes;  no  property  of 
any  sort ;  he  leads  a  vagrant  life,  visiting  a  number  of 
people  who  are  delighted  to  have  him,  and  sometimes 
roving  about  to  various  places,  as  fancy  happens  to 
direct,  and  staying  till  he  has  spent  what  money  he 
has  in  his  pocket.  He  has  no  servant,  no  home,  no 
creditors  ;  he  buys  everything  as  he  wants  it  at  the 
place  he  is  at ;  he  has  no  ties  upon  him,  and  has 
his  time  entirely  at  his  own  disposal  and  that  of  his 
friends.  He  is  certainly  a  living  proof  that  a  man 
may  be  perfectly  happy  and  exceedingly  poor,  or 
rather  without  riches,  for  he  suffers  none  of  the  priva- 
tions of  poverty  and  enjoys  many  of  the  advantages 
of  wealth.  I  think  he  is  the  only  man  I  know  in 
societ}^  who  possesses  nothing."* 

Again  in  1838  : — 

*^  Feb.  20th. — I  made  no  allusion  to  the  death  of 
Creevey  at  the  time  it  took  place,  about  a  fortnight 
ago,  having  said  something  about  him  elsewhere. 
Since  that  period  he  had  got  into  a  more  settled  way 
of  life.  He  was  appointed  to  one  of  the  Ordnance 
offices  by  Lord  Grey,  and  subsequently  by  Lord  Mel- 
bourne to  the  Treasurership  of  Greenwich  Hospital, 
with  a  salary  of  ;^6oo  a  year  and  a  house.  As  he  died 
very  suddenly,  and  none  of  his  connexions  were  at 
hand.  Lord  Sefton  sent  to  his  lodgings  and  (in  con- 
junction with  Vizard  the  solicitor)  caused  all  his  papers 
to  be  sealed  up.  It  was  found  that  he  had  left  a 
woman  who  had  lived  with  him  for  four  years  as  his 
mistress,  his  sole  executrix  and  residuar}^  legatee  (the 
value  of  which  was  very  small,  not  more  than  ^^"300 
or  i^40o),  and  to  all  the  papers  which  he  had  left  behind 
him.  These  last  are  exceedingly  valuable,  for  he  had 
kept  a  copious  diar}^  for  thirty-six  years,  had  preserved 
all  his  own  and  Mrs.  Creevey 's  letters,  and  copies  or 

*  Creville  Memoirs.^  i.  235. 


INTRODUCTION.  xiii 

originals  of  a  vast  miscellaneous  correspondence.  The 
only  person  who  is  acquainted  with  the  contents 
of  these  papers  is  his  daughter-in-law,  whom  he  had 
frequently  employed  to  copy  papers  for  him,  and  she 
knows  how  much  there  is  of  delicate  and  interesting- 
matter,  the  publication  of  which  would  be  painful  and 
embarrassing  to  many  people  now  alive,  and  make 
very  inconvenient  and  premature  revelations  upon 
private  and  confidential  matters.  ,  .  .  Then  there  is 
Creevey's  own  correspondence  with  various  people, 
especially  with  Brougham,  which  evidently  contains 
things  which  Brougham  is  anxious  to  suppress,  for  he 
has  taken  pains  to  prevent  the  papers  from  falling  into 
the  hands  of  any  person  likely  to  publish  them,  and 
has  urged  Vizard  to  get  possession  of  them  either  by 
persuasion,  or  purchase,  or  both.  In  point  of  fact,  they 
are  now  in  Vizard's  hands,  and  it  is  intended  by  him 
and  Brougham,  probably  with  the  concurrence  of 
others,  to  buy  them  of  Creevey's  mistress  ;  though  who 
is  to  become  the  owner  of  the  documents,  or  what  the 
stipulated  price,  and  what  their  contemplated  destina- 
tion, I  do  not  know.  The  most  extraordinary  part  of 
the  affair  is  that  the  woman  has  behaved  with  the 
i.tmost  delicacy  and  propriety,  has  shown  no  mer- 
cenary disposition,  but  expressed  her  desire  to  be 
guided  by  the  wishes  and  opinions  of  Creevey's 
friends  and  connexions,  and  to  concur  in  whatever 
measures  may  be  thought  best  by  them  with  reference 
to  the  character  of  Creevey,  and  the  interests  and  feel- 
ings of  those  who  might  be  affected  by  the  contents 
of  the  papers.  Here  is  a  strange  situation  in  which 
to  find  a  rectitude  of  conduct,  a  moral  sentiment,  a 
grateful  and  disinterested  liberality,  which  would  do 
honour  to  the  highest  birth,  the  most  careful  cultiva- 
tion and  the  strictest  principle.  It  would  be  a  hundred 
to  one  against  any  individual  in  the  ordinary  ranks  of 
society  and  of  average  good  character  acting  with 
such  entire  absence  of  selfishness,  and  I  cannot  help 
being  struck  with  the  contrast  between  the  motives 
and  disposition  of  those  who  want  to  get  hold  of  these 
papers,  and  of  this  poor  woman  who  is  ready  to  give 
them  up.  They — well  knowing  that  in  the  present 
thirst  for  the  sort  of  information  Creevey's  journals 
and  correspondence  contain,  a  very  large  sum  might 

b 


XIV  INTRODUCTION. 

be  obtained  for  them — are  endeavouring  to  drive  the 
best  bargain  they  can  with  her  for  their  own  particular 
ends,  while  she  puts  her  whole  confidence  in  them, 
and  only  wants  to  do  what  they  tell  her  she  ought  to 
do  under  the  circumstances  of  the  case." 

A  couple  of  years  later,  Greville  has  a  further 
reference  to  Creevey. 

"  \2th  March,  1840. — Her  Majesty  went  out  last 
night  to  the  Ancient  Concert  (which  she  particularly 
dislikes),  so  I  got  Melbourne  to  dine  with  me,  and  he 
stayed  talking  till  12  o'clock.  ...  He  expressed  his 
surprise  that  anybody  should  write  a  iournal.  .  .  . 
He  talked  of  Creevey's  journal,  and  of  that  which 
Dover  is  supposed  to  have  left  behind  him.  .  .  .  He 
said  Creevey  had  been  very  shrewd,  but  exceedingly 
bitter  and  malignant." 

Mrs  Blackett  Ord,  of  Whitfield,  whose  husband 
was  the  grandson  of  Mr.  Creevey's  eldest  step- 
daughter, Anne,  by  her  husband,  Lieut.-Colonel 
Hamilton,  having  entrusted  to  me  the  task  of  ex- 
amining these  papers,  and  preparing  for  the  press 
such  parts  of  them  as  should  seem  worthy  of  pub- 
lication, I  have  endeavoured  to  let  Mr.  Creevey  tell 
his  own  story  as  much  as  possible,  connecting  the 
extracts  only  by  such  explanatory  paragraphs  as  may 
serve  to  refresh  the  memory  of  the  reader.  The 
"  copious  diary  "  referred  to  by  Charles  Greville  has 
not  come  into  my  hands  with  the  letters.  If  it  ever 
existed  in  fact,  Lord  Brougham  probably  succeeded 
in  his  attempt  to  get  hold  of  it,  for  it  is  only  brief  and 
broken  periods  that  are  covered  by  anything  of  that 
kind  in  Creevey's  handwriting. 

In  respect  to  orthograph}^,  I  have  thought  it  better 
to  retain  the  characteristic  archaisms  of  the  period, 


INTRODUCTION.  XV 

such  as  "  chuse,"  *'  compleatly,"  and  "  politicks." 
Misspellings  of  proper  names,  such  as  "  Wyndham  " 
for  "  Windham,"  I  have  altered  for  the  sake  of 
identification,  and  ordinary  slips  in  spelling  have  also 
been  rectified.  Words  and  sentences  enclosed  in 
marks  of  parentheses  (  )  stand  so  in  the  original ; 
those  added  by  myself  to  supplement  the  meaning 
will  be  found  in  square  brackets  [    ]. 

HERBERT   MAXWELL.. 

MoNREriH,  1903. 


NICKNAMES     USED     BY    MR.    CREEVEY    TO 
DESIGNATE    SUNDRY    PERSONAGES. 


Atty 


Arch-Jjeiid,  The 
Barney    . 

Beau,  The 
Beelzebub 


Billy,  Old 
Billy,  Onr 

Billy  Russell   . 

Bogey 

Bruffavi . 

Calibre,  Old  or  Lord 

CJieerful  Charlie 
Ciss 


Chinch     . 
Cole,  Mrs. 


Lord  Arthur  Hill,  2nd  son  of  2nd  Marquess 

of  Downshire,  and  afterwards  succeeded 

his  mother  as  Lord  Sandys. 
See  Beelzebub. 
1 2th  Duke   of  Norfolk.    See  also  Twitch 

and  Scroop. 
The  Duke  of  Wellington. 
Henry,    ist   Lord   Brougham    and   Vaux. 

See  also  Bruffam,  The  Arch-fiend,  and 

Wicked-shifts. 
4th  Earl  Fitzwilliam. 
William  IV. 
Lord  William  Russell,  brother  of  5th  Duke 

of  Bedford. 
Lord  Grenville. 
See  Beelzehib. 
Mr.  Western,  M.P.,  created  Lord  Western 

in  1833. 
5th  Duke  of  Rutland. 
Lady  Cecilia  Buggin,  daughter  of  the  2nd 

Earl  of  Arran  and  widow  of  Sir  George 

Buggin,  married   in   1826  to  H.R.H. 

Augustus  Frederick,  Duke  of  Sussex, 

and  was  created  Duchess  of  Inverness 

in  1840. 
Lord  Althorp. 
Mr.  Tierney. 


NICKNAMES    USED    BY    MR.   CREEVEY. 


XVll 


Cole^  Young 


Comical  Bob     . 

Ctipid 

Dear  Eddard 
Denny 
Doctor,  The 

Fergy       . 
Frog,  The 
Frog,  Yo2ing 
Frothy     . 
Gooseriimp 
Jack  the  Painter 

Jaffa        .         . 
Jenky 
Jockey,  The 

King  Tom 


Madagascar     . 
Merryman,  The 
Mouldy  . 
Mrs.  F.  . 
Mull       . 

Niffy-naffy       . 

Og  or  Ogg 

Old  Nobs 

Old   Sally  or  Dow. 

Sally 
Old     Stiff-rump    or 

The  Squire 
Pet,  The  . 
P.,  Young 
Pic  and  TJiiniblc 


Hon.  James  Abercromby,  elected  Speaker 

in  1835  and  created  Lord  Dunfermline 

in  1839. 
Lord  Robert  Spencer,  brother  of  the  3rd 

Duke  of  Marlborough. 
Viscount  Palmerston. 
Hon.  Robert  Edward  Petre. 
Mr.  Denison  of  Denbies. 
Right    Hon.    Henry    Addington,    created 

Viscount  Sidmouth  in  1805. 
General  Ronald  Ferguson  of  Raith. 
King  William  L  of  Holland. 
The  .Prince  of  Orange. 
Hon.  H.  G.  Bennet,  M.P. 
The  6th  Earl  of  Carlisle. 
Right  Hon.  T.  Spring  Rice,  created  Lord 

Monteagle  in  1839, 
General  Sir  Robert  Wilson. 
Lord  Liverpool. 
The  nth  Duke  of  Norfolk. 
J.  G.   Lambton    of    Lambton,  afterwards 

Earl  of  Durham. 
Thomas    Coke    of    Holkham,   afterwards 

Earl  of  Leicester. 
Lady  Holland. 
Mr.  Canning. 
Lord  Bexley. 

The  Princess  of  Wales  (Queen  Caroline). 
Lord   Molyneux,  son  of  the  3rd  Earl   of 

Sefton. 
Earl  of  Darlington,  afterwards  ist  Duke  of 

Cleveland. 
The  2nd  Lord  Kensington. 
George  HL 

f  Mary  Amelia,  Marchioness  of  Salisbury. 

)  Mr.     Western,     ]\L  P.,    afterwards     Lord 
)      Western. 

3rd  Earl  of  Sefton. 

Princess  Charlotte  of  ^^'ales. 

Lord  John  Russell. 


xviii         NICKNAMES    USED    BY   MR.    CREEVEY. 


Pop^  The  ,-       . 

Prinney  . 
Punch 

Roscms   . 

Sally 

Sally,  Old  or  Doiv. 

Scroop 

Slice 

S}iip 

Sjiipe 

Snontch  . 

Squire,  The,  or    Old 

Stiff-rump 
Suss 

Spinning  Jenny 
Taffy       .         . 
Twitch     . 
Vandernoot,  Old 
Vestivius 
Vic,  little 
Wicked-shifts  . 


Countess  of  Darlington,  afterwards  Duchess 

of  Cleveland. 
The  Prince  of  Wales  (George  IV,). 
Charles  Greville,  Clerk  of  the  Council. 
Lord  Henry  Petty,  afterwards  3rd  Marquess 

of  Lansdowne. 
Sarah,  Countess  of  Jersey. 
Mary  Amelia,  Marchioness  of  Salisbury. 
The  1 2th  Duke  of  Norfolk. 
H.R.H.  the  Duke  of  Gloucester. 
Right  Hon.  Thomas  Robinson,  successively 

Viscount  Goderich  and  Earl  of  Ripon 
Princess  Lieven. 
Right  Hon.  George  Ponsonby. 
Mr.     Western,     M.P.,     afterwards     Lord 

Western. 
H.R.H.  the  Duke  of  Sussex. 
Sir  Robert  Peel. 
Lord  Dinorbin. 
The  1 2th  Duke  of  Norfolk. 
William  Van  Mildert,  Bishop  of  Durham. 
Hon.  Douglas  Kinnaird. 
Queen  Victoria. 
See  Beelzebub. 


CONTENTS. 


Introduction    ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...        v 

Nicknames  used  by  Mr.  Creevi-a'  ...  ...  ...    '  xvi 

List  of  Illustrations  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  xxvii 

CHAPTER   I. 

1793-1804. 

Crccvey  enters  Parliament — Paris  under  the  Consulate— Actors 
in  the  Revolution — The  Addington  Ministry— Sir  John 
Moore — War — The  return  of  Pitt — Per  mare  et  terras — 
The  Front  Bench — Laudator  teniporis  adi — Pitt  and  Fox 
as  allies — The  bonds  of  party — The  hope  of  the  Whigs — 
Threats  of  invasion — The  Irish  difficulty       ...         ...         ...   1-31 

CHAPTER    II. 

1805. 

Melville's  disgrace — The  campaign  against  jobs — The  Radicals 
make  the  pace — The  Sheridans — Romilly  declines  Parlia- 
ment—Irish  affairs — Ulm  and  Austerlitz 3--45 

CHAPTER   III. 

1805. 

The  Heir  Apparent— Life  at  the  Pavilion— Sheridan — Sheridan's 
marriage — Frolics  at  Brighton — Warren  Hastings — Lord 
Thurlow — The  Duke  of  York— Society  at  Brighton — Even- 
ings at  the  Pavilion — Death  of  Nelson — The  Prince  of 
Wales  and  Mrs.  Fitzherbcrt  ...         ...         46-73 


XX  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    IV. 
I 806- I 808. 

PAGE 

"  All  the  Talents  "' — Creevey  in  office — Fox's  last  illness — 
Sheridan  jibs — High  living — The  Portland  Administration 
— Alliance  with  Spain — The  Convention  of  Cintra — Mr. 
Whitbread  unbosoms  himself  74-92 


CHAPTER  V. 
1809. 

Walcheren — Castlereagh's  duel  with  Canning — Whitbread  on  the 
situation — The  passage  of  the  Douro— Sir  Arthur  Wellesley 
remonstrates — Mr.  Whitbread  explains — Journal         ...       93-116 

CHAPTER  VI. 
1 8 10. 

The  sentiments  of  Brougham— Difficulties  of  the  Opposition — 
Debate  on  the  Address — Divided  counsels — The  Walcheren 
enquiry — Wellington  and  the  Common  Council — Defeat 
of  the  Government — A  sailor's  opinion  of  Sir  Richard 
Strachan       117-134 

CHAPTER  VII. 

1811. 

Cabinet  making — Whitbread's  proposals — The  prospect  of  office 
— Creevey's  conditions — The  Prince's  coolness  to  the  Whigs 
— Journal — The  Canningites  scattered 135-153 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

1812. 

Parliament  is  dissolved — Who  shall  be  Premier  .'' — Prolonged 
suspense — Lord  Wellesley  tries  his  hand — Lord  Grey  stands 
aloof — Lord  Liverpool  takes  office— Creevey  stands  for  Liver- 
pool— Re-elected  for  Thetford — Defeated  at  Liverpool — 
Visit  to  Knowsley    ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...     153-174 


CONTENTS.  XXI 

CHAPTER   IX.    . 

1813-1S14. 

PACE 

The  Regent's  domestic  affairs — Brougham  on  the  war-path — 
Brougham's  opinion  of  Whitbread — Partisans — Plot  and 
counter-plot — Napoleon  abdicates — Tales  of  the  town — The 
peace — Brougham  without  a  seat — The  Emperor  of  Russia 
— Princess  Charlotte  of  Wales — The  Princess  of  Wales 
throws  over  her  advisers — Lord  Cochrane's  case  ...     175-204. 


CHAPTER   X. 

1S14-1815. 

Brougham  on  the  situation — The  pinch  of  the  property-tax — The 
Hundred  Days — Bnjssels  in  1S15 — The  shadow  of  war — 
Napoleon's  last  stakes — Tidings  from  the  frontier — Arrival 
of  Wellington — Confusion  in  Brussels — The  Iron  Duke — 
The  Duchess  of  Richmond's  ball — The  eve  of  Waterloo — 
The  eighteenth  of  June — Conflicting  rumours — Victory — 
Conversation  with  the  Duke — Close  of  the  campaign  ...     205-239 


CHAPTER   XI. 

1815-1S16. 

Death  of  Whitbread — Misfortunes  of  the  Opposition — The  duke- 
dom of  Norfolk — Disorganised  Whigs — Brougham  startles 
his  friends — Who  shall  lead  the  Whigs  ? — Brougham's  views 
— A  lady's  letter — A  dispirited  Radical — "  You  must  come 
over!"  ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...     240-260 


CHAPTER   XII. 
1817-1S1S. 

From  Lord  Holland — Mr.  Ticrney  chosen  leader — Napoleon  at 
St.  Helena — The  Duke  of  Kent's  confidences — Lord  Kin- 
naird's  affair — Mr.  Creevey  dislodged  from  Thctford — 
Journal — Sir  Hudson  Lowe — Objections  to  Ticrney  ...     261-291 


XXll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   XIII. 
1 819-1820. 

TAGE 

Lord  Holland  upon  the  situation — Death  of  George  III. — Queen 
Caroline  reappears — Dissension  in  the  Opposition — Does 
Brougham  run  straight? — The  question  of  the  Liturg}' — 
Opinion  at  Knowsley — Opening  of  the  trial — Proceedings  in 
the  Lords — The  case  for  the  Crown — Unfavourable  evidence 
— Louise  Demont — The  Solicitor-General  sums  up — The 
divorce  clause  abandoned — Brougham  opens  the  defence — 
Ministers  lose  ground — The  Duke  of  Norfolk's  opinion — 
Adjournment  of  the  Commons — Brougham's  tactics — Mr. 
Denman  sums  up— Nearing  the  end— What  will  be  the 
majority  ?— The  division— The  Bill  abandoned— The  pro- 
rogation              292-342 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

1821. 

Queen  Caroline's  establishment— The  summary  prorogation — 
The  pretender  Olivia — Lady  Holland  at  home— Brougham 
fulfils  a  pledge — Dinner  with  the  Queen — Lord  Holland's 
apology — The  Queen  excluded  from  the  Abbey — The  north 
to  be  roused  —  The  Queen's  death — Suspicions  about 
Brougham's  honesty  —  An  honourable  executor  —  Lord 
Lauderdale — George  IV.  in  Ireland — End  of  the  Royal 
visit 343~374 

CHAPTER   XV. 
1822. 

Creevey's  activity — In  the  Whig  camp— ''A  Voice  from  St. 
Helena  " — The  frequency  of  suicide— Castlereagh's  death — 
George  IV.  in  Scotland — The  Duke  of  Sussex — Canning 
assumes  the  lead — Lord  Thanet  on  the  situation — Can- 
ning's voice,  Castlereagh's  hand— Mr.  Cobbett's  views — 
Knowsley  revisited •■         375-400 

CHAPTER   XVI. 

1823-1824. 

A  young  lady's  letters— Criticism  upon  Canning— Two  very 
different  dukes — The  Duke  of  Buckingham — Social 
scheming — Tittle-tattle— At  Crockford's — Royal  Ascot- 
Newmarket  A  visit  to  Lambton — Captain  FitzClarence's 
opinions        401-425 


CONTENTS.  xxill 

CHAPTER   XVII. 
1825-1826. 

FACE 

Two  Scottish  divines — The  birth  of  railways— Creevey's  seat  in 
jeopardy — Lambton  revisited— Creevey  as  an  author — Lady 
Grey's  views — Lord  J.  Russell  on  Reform— Canning  and  the 
Opposition — The  Corn  Laws        426-444 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

1827. 

Liverpool's  last  illness — Brougham  receives  a  challenge — Creevey 
enjoys  his  freedom — A  Cabinet  crisis — Mischievous  times — 
Brougham  in  the  thick  of  it — Coalition — Creevey's  objec- 
tions— Wellington  and  Grey — Death  of  Canning — Grey 
and  Brougham — ^Lowther  Castle — The  Goderich  Ministry 
— Party  politics  in  the  north — The  affair  of  Navarino        445-476 

CHAPTER   XIX. 

1827-1828. 

Return  to  Croxteth — Rumours  of  war^Lord  Grey's  speculations 
— Sefton  and  Brougham— What  is  Brougham  after  i* — General 
distress  in  the  country — A  quarrel — Overtures  to  the  Whigs 
— Rival  marquesses— The  Duke  of  Sussex  and  the  Whigs — 
Lord  Hill  puts  down  his  foot  — Huskisson  resigns — Colling- 
wood's  memoirs — Petworth — Creevey  out  in  the  cold — The 
Clare  election  ...         ...         477-509 

CHAPTER   XX. 

1828. 

An  obsequious  cicerone — The  Bessborough  estates — Lord 
Hutchinson — Power  of  Kilfane — Impressions  of  Ireland — 
Lord  Donoughmore's  recollections — Irish  society — Dan 
O'Connell — The  Tighes  of  Woodstock— Creevey's  indiscre- 
tion— The  Viceregal  Lodge — Carton       ...         510-534 

CHAPTER   XXI. 

1829. 

Catholic  emancipation— The  Garth  scandal— A  party  at  Lady 
Sefton's— Intrigues  in  the  Opposition— First  trip  on  the 
railway— A  spendthrift  peer  535-547 


XXIV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   XXII. 
1830-1831. 

PACK 

Brougham's  literary  schemes — Lord  Douro's  engagement — 
Death  of  George  IV. — Death  of  Huskisson — Lord  Grey's 
administration — A  party  in  Downing  Street— Queen  Ade- 
laide's Drawing-room — The  first  draft  of  Reform — Stirring 
times — The  second  reading  carried — The  Bill  in  Committee 
— Creevey  returns  to  Parliament— The  Prime  Minister — 
Influenza — The  race  for  honours — Coronation  gossip — The 
Reform  agitation 548-581 

CHAPTER   XXI IL 

1 83  2- 1 833. 

The  prospects  of  the  Bill — A  party  at  Lady  Grey's — Lord  Grey 
resigns — The  Reform  Bill  passed — The  end  of  the  old  order 
— The  Reformed  Parliament — Affairs  in  Arlington  Street — 
Miss  Berry's  dinner-party — Roscoe  as  historian — King 
William's  levee        582-602 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 


The  Court  at  Windsor — Private  political  history — Lord  Hol- 
land's ability — Gossip — Joseph  Parkes 603-613 

CHAPTER   XXV. 

1834. 

Creevey's  office  threatened^ — Rogers's  dinner-party — Competition 
for  ofiice — Oxford  declines  Talleyrand — Creevey's  new  post 
— Anecdote  about  Lord  Grey — Brougham  blamed  for  the 
crisis — Lord  Grey's  opinion  of  Brougham — A  breeze  with 
Brougham — The  Road  at  its  prime— Lord  Grey  in  retire- 
ment— Overtures  to  Lord  Howick — Melbourne's  dismissal — 
Character  of  Lord  Sefton — Visit  at  Howick — At  Holland 
House  again  614-645 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

1835-1836. 

Creevey  as  an  onlooker — Lady  Grey  at  home — "  Bear"  Ellice — 
Action  against  Lord  Melbourne — Cassiobury — Death  of 
Charles  X 646-658 


CONTENTS.  XXV 

CHAPTER  XXVII.,  and  Last. 
1837-1838. 

I'AGE 

Death  of  Mrs.  Fitzherbcrt— and  of  William  IV. — The  young 
Queen — Brighton  revisited — The  Marquess  Wellesley — 
Dinner  with  the  Duke  of  Sussex — Holkham^Lady  Charlotte 
Bury's  book—"  Where  shall  I  go  next?"  659-678 

Index      679 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Thomas  Creevky  ...  ...  ...  ...     Frontispiece 

From  a  IVaier-colour  Drawing,  in  iiic  possession  of  il/iss 
Eli~abctJi  Blaclzett  Ord,  at  Brorouside,  Cuniberlatid 

TO    FACE    i'AtlE 

Mrs.  Fitzherbert         ...  ...  ...  ...  ...      50 

From  the  Picbire  by  John  Russell,  R.A.,  in  the  pos- 
session of  Mr.  Basil  Fitzherbert,  at  Siuinnerton  Hall, 
Staffordshire 

Lord  Thurlow  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...      60 

From    iJic    Picture   by    Thomas   Phillips,  R.A.,  in  the 
National  Portrait  Gallery 

Admiral  .Sir  Graham  Moore    ...  ...  ...  ...      90 

From  the  Picttire  by  SiR  Thom.vs  Lawkenxe,  T.R.A.,  in 
the  National  Portrait  Gallery 

R.  Bkinsley  Sheridan  ...  ...  ...  ...     146 

From  a  Picture  /^  JOHN  Hoppner,  R.A.,  in  the  possession 
of  George  Harland  Peck,  Esq. 

Henry  Brougham  in  Early  Life  ...  ...  ...     172 

From  the  Picture  by  James  Lonsdale,  in  tJie  National 
Portrait  Gallery 

Samuel  Whitbread       ...  ..  ...  ...  ...     242 

From  an  Engraving  by?).  W.  Reynolds,  fT/i'iV  J.  Opie,  R..^. 

Sir  Samuel  Romilly     ...  ...  ...  ...  ...    290 

From  the  Picture  by  Sir  Tikim.as  Lawrence,  P.  R.A.,  /// 
the  National  Portrait  Gallery 

Sarah,  Countess  of  Jersey      ...  ...  ...  ...    296 

From  a  Picture  by  SiR  Thomas  Lawrence,  P.R.A.,  in  the 

possession  of  the  Earl  of  Jersey. 


xxviii  LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 

TO    FACE   PAGE 

Mrs.  Creevey   ...  ...  •••  •••  —  •••    342 

From   a  Picture  in  the  possession   of  Mrs.  Blaclcett   Ord, 
Whitfield,  Northumberland 

Viscount  Castlereagh  ...  ...  ...  ...    384 

From  the  Picture  by  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence,  P.R.A.,  in 
the  National  Portrait  Gallery 

Joseph  Hume    ...  ...  ...  •••  •••  •••    416 

From  the  Mezzotint  by  T.  IIODGE rrs,  after  J.  Graham 

The  Third  Marquess  of  Lansdownk  ...  ...  •••    45^ 

From  the  Picture  by  IL  Walton,  in  the  National  Portrait 
Gallery 

George  Canning  ...  ...  •••  •••  •••    4^4 

From  the  Picture  by  SiR  Thomas  Lawrence,  P.K.A.,  at 
Christ  Chiirch,  Oxford 

John  Allen      ...  ...  ...  ...  •••  •••    49^ 

From  the  Picture  by  Siu  Edwin  Landseer,  K.A.,  in  the 
National  Portrait  Gallery 

Daniel  O'Connell,  M.P.  ...  •••  •••  •••     536 

From    the    Picture    by    B.    MULRENIN,    R.H.A.,    in    the 
National  Portrait  Gallery 

Earl  Grey         ...  ...  •••  •••  •••  —     558 

From  the  Picture  by  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence,  F.R.A.,  in 
the  National  Portrait  Gallery 

The  Countess  Grey  and  two  Children  ...  ...     586 

From  the  Mezzotint  by  Samuel  Cousins,  R.A.,  after  Sir 
Thomas  Lawrence,  P.R.A. 

Lady  Holland...  ...  •••  •••  •••  •••     59^ 

From   an   Engraving  by  S.  W.  Reynolds,   after  C.    R. 
Leslie,  R.A. 

Viscount  Melbourne    ...  ...  ...  ...  .•■    668 

From  the  Picture  by  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence,  R.R.A., /« 
the  National  Port  rait  Gallery 


THE  CREEVEY   PAPERS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

1 793- 1 804. 

The  earliest  letter  preserved  in  the  huge  mass  of  Mr. 
Creevey's  correspondence  is  a  very  brief  one  ;  but  it 
strikes  the  note  which  carried  dismay  and  indignation 
into  every  court  in  Europe,  and  was  the  prelude  to 
twenty  years  of  widespread  war. 

Hon.  Charles  Grey,  M.P.  [afterwards  2nd  Earl  Grey],  to 

Mrs.  Ord. 

"24th  Jan.,  1793. 
"  Dear  Mrs.  Ord, 

"  I  have  only  a  moment  before  the  post  goes 
out.  .  .  .  An  account  is  come  that  the  King  of  France 
was  executed  on  Monday  morning.  Everything  in 
Paris  bore  the  appearance  of  another  tumult  and 
massacre.  Bad  as  I  am  thought,  I  cannot  express  the 
horror  I  feel  at  this  atrocity. 

"  Yours  affectionately, 

"C.  Grey. 

"War  is  certain,  and — God  grant  we  may  not  all 
lament  the  consequences  of  it ! " 

There  are  few  letters  during  the  remaining  years 
of  the  eighteenth  century  referring  to  anything  except 

B 


2    *•  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  I. 

private  affairs  of  little  interest.  Dr.  J.  Currie  of 
Liverpool  wrote  pretty  regularly  to  Mr.  Creevey, 
who  seems  to  have  been  reading  for  the  Bar  at  this 
time. 

Dr.  Qtrrie  to  Thomas  Creevey. 

"Liverpool,  30th  Dec,  1795. 

"...  I  once  thought  you  a  modest  fellow — now  I 
laugh  at  the  very  idea  of  it.  Upon  my  soul,  Creevey, 
it  was  all  a  damned  hum.  What  with  your  election 
songs  and  your  rompings — what  with  yourcarousings 
with  the  men  and  your  bamboozlings  with  the  women, 
you  are  a  most  complete  hand  indeed.  Widow,  wife, 
or  maid,  it  is  all  one  to  you.  ...  If  you  go  on  in  this 
way,  and  keep  out  of  Doctors  Commons,  the  Lord 
knows  what  you  may  rise  to.  .  .  ." 

"17th  Dec,  1798. 

"...  I  am,  I  assure  you,  deeply  concerned  to  hear 
that  you  think  so  poorly  of  Dr.  Tennant's  health  ; 
and  perfectly  disturbed  to  think  that  he  has  had  any 
trouble  about  my  thermometers.*  The  truth  is  I 
wished  to  avail  myself  of  his  intuitive  skill  in  framing 
an  instrument  free  of  all  exception  for  taking  heat  in 
contagious  diseases  where  approach  is  hazardous. 
But  since  he  left  us  ...  I  have  so  far  succeeded  in 
constructing  a  sensible  [?  sensitive]  instrument  with 
Six's  iron  index  as  to  answer  my  purpose.  ...  I  have 
done  very  little  but  read  Voltaire  since  I  saw  you. 
He  is  an  exquisite  fellow.  One  thing  in  him  is 
peculiarly  striking — his  clear  knowledge  of  the  limits 
of  the  human  understanding.  He  pursues  his  game 
as  far  as  the  scent  carries  him,  but  no  further.  Where 
this  fails,  he  turns  off  with  a  jest,  that  marks  distinctly 
where  a  wise  man  ought  to  stop.  .  .  ,  You  know, 
my  dear  fellow,  I  owe  the  delight  of  reading  him  to 
you." 

*  The  most  enduring  part  of  Dr.  Currie's  work  as  a  physician 
consists  in  the  advance  he  made  in  the  use  of  the  thermometer  in 
fevers. 


1793-1804.]     CREEVEY   ENTERS    PARLIAMENT.  ,3 

"20th  Jan.,  1 80 1. 

"...  I  envy  you  the  company  you  keep.  When 
you  tell  me  of  meeting  Erskine,  Parr  and  Mackintosh 
familiarly,  I  sigh  at  my  allotment  in  this  corner  of 
the  Island.  It  is  impossible  not  to  rust  here,  even  if 
one  had  talents  of  a  better  kind.  In  London,  and 
perhaps  there  only,  practice  and  exercise  keep  men 
polished  and  bright.  ...  So  you  are  become  an 
intimate  friend  of  Lady  Oxford.  My  dear  Creevey — 
these  women — these  beautiful  women — are  the  devil's 
most  powerful  temptation — but  I  will  not  moralize, 
on  paper  at  least.  .  .  ." 

In  1802  Mr.  Creevey  was  returned  to  Parliament 
as  member  for  Thetford,  a  pocket  borough  in  the  gift 
of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  How  he  obtained  this  nomi- 
nation there  is  no  evidence  to  show ;  but  he  was  an 
enthusiastic  Whig  of  the  advanced  type  which  was 
about  to  reject  that  time-worn  title,  and  adopt  the 
more  expressive  one  of  Radical.  Indeed,  the  animosity 
of  this  section  against  the  old  Whigs,  under  the  lead 
of  Lord  Grenville,  was  almost  as  intense  as  it  was 
against  the  Tories  under  Pitt. 

Sir  Francis  Burdett,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey,  M.P. 

"Piccadilly,  August  i8th,  1802. 

''  My  dear  Creevey, 

"  I  have  scarcely  time  to  turn  round,  but  will 
not  defer  sending  a  line  in  answer  to  your  very  kind 
letter — as  1  am  entirely  of  your  opinion  in  every 
point.  I  look  upon  your  advice  as  excellent,  and 
intend  consequently  to  follow  it.  You  know  by  this 
time  the  Petition  is  taken  out  of  my  hands,  in  a 
manner  most  flattering  and  honourable.  The  conduct 
of  the  Sheriffs  I  believe  quite  unprecedented,  but 
whether  they  will  be  punished,  protected  or  rewarded 
exceeds  my  sagacity  to  I'oretell,  perhaps  both  the  latter. 

"  I  regard  the  issue  of  this  contest  exactly  in  the 
same  light  as  you  do — a  subject  of  great  triumph  and 
not  of  mortification.    My  friend  is  compleatly  satisfied. 


4  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  I. 

I  have  done  my  duty  and  the  Public  acknowledge  it — 
surely  this  is  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  ambition  of  an 
honest  man. 

"  I,  however,  cannot  help  envying  you  your  happi- 
ness and  comfort,  and  wish  most  heartily  1  was  of  the 
party.  You  cannot  think  how  friendly  Ord  was  nor 
how  much  I  feel  obliged  to  him — we  used  his  house, 
but  I  hope  not  injure  it, 

"  Sherry  is  quite  grown  loving  again ;  he  came 
here  yesterday  with  all  sorts  of  {illegible]  from  the 
Prince,  Mrs.  Fitzherbert,  &c.,  &c. ;  it  is  a  year  and  half, 
I  believe  before  this  Election,  since  we  almost  spoke. 
Mrs.  Sheridan  came  one  day  on  the  Hastings,  and  was 
much  delighted  and  entertained  at  being  hailed  by  the 
multitude  as  Mrs.  Burdett.  .  .  . 

"  Yours  sincerely, 

"F.  Burdett." 

Mr.  Crecvey,  M.P.,  to  Dr.  Cttrrie. 

"Great  Cumberland  Place,  8th  Nov.,  1802. 

".  .  .  The  Grenvilles  are  in  great  spirits ;  the 
Morning  Post,  and  Morning  Chronicle  too,  are  strongly 
suspected  of  being  in  their  pay,  and  to-day  it  is 
said  Tom  Grenville  is  to  be  started  as  Speaker 
against  Abbott.  Great  are  the  speculations  about 
Pitt:  it  is  asserted  that  he  is  fonder  of  his  relations 
[the  Grenvilles]  than  the  Doctor,*  but  I  hear  of  no 
authority  for  this  opinion.  1,  for  one,  if  they  tr}'-  their 
strength  in  the  choice  of  a  Speaker,  tho'  I  detest 
Abbott,  will  vote  for  him  or  anybody  else  supported 
by  Addington,  in  opposition  to  a  Grenville  or  a  rittite. 
I  am  affraid  of  this  damned  Addington  being  bullied 
out  of  his  pacific  disposition.  He  will  be  most  cursedly 
run  at,  and  he  has  neither  talents  to  command  open 
coadjutors,  nor  sufficient  skill  in  intriguing  to  acquire 
private  ones.  Still  I  think  we  cannot  surely  be  pushed 
again  into  the  field  of  battle. 

"Now  for  France — all  the  world  has  been  there, 
and  various  is  the  information  imported  from  thence. 

*  The  Right  Hon.  Henry  Addington,  created  Viscount  Sidmouth 
in  1805.  He  was  nicknamed  "  the  Doctor  "  because  his  father  was  a 
physician. 


J793-i8o4.]    PARIS   UNDER  THE   CONSULATE.  5 

Whishaw  was  my  first  historian,  and  I  think  the  worst. 
He  was  at  Paris  only  a  fortnight,  but  he  travelled 
through  France.  I  apprehend,  either  from  a  scanty 
supply  of  the  language  or  of  proper  introductions,  he 
has  been  merely  a  stage  coach  traveller.  He  has  seen 
soldiers  in  every  part  of  his  tour,  and  superintending 
every  department  of  the  Government  .  .  .  and  has 
returned  quite  scared  out  of  his  wits  at  the  dreadful 
power  and  villainy  of  the  French  Government.  .  .  . 
Romilly*  is  my  next  relator,  and  much  more  amusing. 
His  private  friends  were  the  Liancourts,  de  la  Roche- 
foucaults,  &c.,  and  he  dined  at  different  times  with 
Talleyrand,  Berthier,  and  all  the  other  Ministers  at 
their  houses.  Ministers,  however,  and  statesmen  are 
alike  in  all  countries ;  they  alone  are  precluded  from 
telling  you  anything  about  the  country  in  whose 
service  they  are,  and  emigrants  are  too  insecure  to 
indulge  any  freedom  in  conversation.  Romilly's 
account,  therefore,  as  one  might  suppose,  makes  his 
society  of  Paris  the  most  gloomy  possible.  He  says 
at  Talleyrand's  table,  where  you  have  such  magni- 
ficence as  was  never  seen  before  in  France,  the 
Master  of  the  House,  who  as  an  exile  in  England 
without  a  guinea  was  the  pleasantest  of  Men,  in 
France  and  in  the  midst  of  his  prosperity  sits  the 
most  melancholy  picture  apparently  of  sorrow  and 
despair.  Romilly  sat  next  to  Fox  at  Talleyrand's 
dinner,  and  had  all  his  conversation  to  himself;  but 
not  a  word  of  public  affairs — all  vcrtu  and  French 
belles  lettres.  Romilly  would  not  grace  the  court  of 
Buonaparte,  but  left  Paris  with  as  much  detestation 
of  him  and  his  Government  as  Whishaw,  and  with 
much  more  reason. 

"But  the  great  lion  of  all  upon  the  subject  of  Paris 
is  Mackintosh.f  He  has  really  seen  most  "entertaining 
things  and  people.  He,  too,  dined  with  Ministers, 
and  has   held  a  long  consultation  with   the  Consult 

*  Samuel  Romilly,  K.C.,  entered  Parliament  in  1806,  appointed 
Solicitor-General,  and  was  knighted.  An  ardent  Reformer,  and  father 
of  the  first  Lord  Romilly,  he  committed  suicide  in  18 18. 

t  Sir  James  Mackintosh  [i7<j5-i832],  barrister,  philosopher,  and 
politician. 

X  Bonaparte. 


6  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  I. 

upon  the  Norman  and  English  laws;  but  his  means 
of  living  with  the  active  people  of  France  has  far 
exceeded  that  of  any  other  English.  I  think  his  most 
valuable  acquaintance  must  have  been  Madame  de 
Souza.  She  is  a  Frenchwoman,  was  a  widow,  and  is 
now  the  wife  of  the  Portuguese  ambassador.  She  is 
the  friend  and  companion  and  confidante  of  Madame 
Buonaparte,  and  satisfied  all  Mackintosh's  enquiries 
respecting  her  friend  and  her  husband  the  Consul. 
Her  history  to  Mackintosh  (confirmed  by  Madame 
Cabarrus,  late  Madame  Tallien)  of  Madame  Buona- 
parte and  her  husband  is  this. — Madame  Buonaparte 
is  a  woman  nearly  fifty,  of  singular  good  temper,  and 
without  a  little  of  intrigue.  She  is  a  Creole,  and  has 
large  West  India  possessions.  On  these  last  accounts 
it  was  that  she  was  married  by  the  Viscount  Beau- 
harnois — a  lively  nobleman  about  the  old  Court ;  and 
both  in  his  life  and  since  his  death  his  wife  remained 
a  great  favorite  in  Paris. 

"  Immediately  previous  to  the  directorial  power 
being  established  in  1795,  the  Sections  all  rose  upon 
the  Convention  or  Assembly,  whatever  it  was,  in 
consequence  of  an  odious  vote  or  decree  they  had 
made.  At  this  period,  no  general  would  incur  the 
risque  of  an  unsuccessful  attack  upon  the  Sections  ; 
Buonaparte  alone,  who  was  known  only  from  having 
served  at  the  siege  of  Toulon,  being  then  in  Paris, 
said  if  any  General  would  lend  him  a  coat,  he  would 
fight  the  Sections.  He  put  his  coat  on ;  he  peppered 
the  Sections  with  grape  shot ;  the  establishment  of  the 
Directory  was  the  consequence  to  them,  and  to  him  in 
return  they  gave  the  command  of  the  army  of  Italy.* 
He  became,  therefore,  the  fashion,  and  was  asked  to 
meet  good  company,  and  he  was  asked  to  Tallien's 
to  put  him  next  the  widow  Beauharnois,  that  he  might 
vex  Hoche,  who  was  then  after  her  and  her  fortune. 
Madame   Tallien   did   so,  and   the   new   lovers   were 

*  Napoleon's  own  report  upon  the  suppression  of  the  Sections 
places  the  responsibility  of  the  act  upon  Barras,  who  employed  him 
merely  as  a  good  artillery  officer.  Before  being  appointed  to  the 
command  of  the  army  in  Italy,  in  1796,  Bonaparte  was  rewarded,  in 
1 795)  for  his  action  against  the  Sections  by  succeeding  Barras  in 
command  of  the  army  of  the  Interior. 


1793-1804.]      ACTORS    IN    THE   REVOLUTION.  7 

married  in  ten  days.  She  never  was  Barras'  mistress; 
Madame  Cabarrus  (Tallien  that  was)  told  Mackintosh 
that  was  calumny,  for  that  she  herself  was  his  mistress 
at  that  very  time.*  Madame  de  Souza  says  no  one  but 
Madame  Buonaparte  could  live  with  the  Consul ;  he 
is  subject  to  fits  of  passion,  bordering  upon  derange- 
ment, and  upon  the  appearance  of  one  of  these 
distempered  freaks  of  his,  he  is  left  by  all  about  him 
to  his  fate  and  to  the  effects  of  time.  It  is  a  service 
of  great  danger,  even  in  his  milder  moments,  to 
propose  anything  to  him,  and  it  is  from  his  wife's 
forbearance  in  both  ways  that  she  can  possibly  con- 
trive to  have  the  respect  she  meets  with  from  him. 

"Every  wreck  of  the  different  parties'in  France  for 
the  last  ten  years  that  is  now  to  be  found  in  Paris, 
Mackintosh  met  and  lived  familiarly  with — La  Fayette, 
[illegible],  Jean  Bon  Saint-Andre,  Barthelemy,  Camille 
Jourdan,  Abbe  Morelaix,  Fouche,  Boissy  Danglas,  &c., 
&c.  Tallien t  no  one  visits  of  his  countrymen;  his 
couv^ersations  with  Mackintosh,  if  one  had  not  his 
authority,  surpass  belief  His  only  lamentation  over 
the  revolution  was  its  want  of  success,  and  that  it 
should  be  on  account  of  only  half  measures  having 
been  adopted.  He  almost  shed  tears  at  the  mention 
of  Danton,  whom  he  styled  bon  enfant,  and  as  a  man 
of  great  promise. 

"  Mackintosh  dined  at  Barthelemy's  the  banker — 
the  brother  of  the  ex-director — with  a  pleasant  party. 
The  ex-director  was  there,  and  next  to  him  sat  Fouche 
— now  a  senator — but  who  formerly,  as  Minister  of 
Police,  actually  deported  the  ex-director  to  Cayenne. 
There  was  likewise  a  person  there  wholtold  M.  he 
had  seen  Fouche  ride  full  gallop  to  preside  at  some 
celebrated  massacre,  with  a  pair  of  human  ears  stuck 
one  on  each  side  of  his  hat.t     The  conversation  of 

*  The  beautiful  Madame  dc  Tallien,  previously  Comtesse  de 
Fontcnay,  was  as  fickle  as  she  was  frail,  for  she  was  also  the  mistress 
of  the  rich  banker  Ouvrard.  Tallien  obtained  a  divorce  in  1802,  and 
she  married  the  Prince  de  Chimay. 

t  Jean  Lambert  Tallien,  one  of  the  chief  organisers  and  bloodiest 
agents  of  the  Terror,  leader  in  the  overthrow  of  Robespierre. 

t  Joseph  Fouche,  afterwards  Due  d'Otranto,  had  as  yet  but  accom- 
plished half  his  cycle  of  cynical  tergiversation,  which  brought  him  to 


8  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  I. 

this  notable  assembly  was  as  charming  as  the  per- 
formers themselves ;  it  turned  principally  upon  the 
blessings  of  peace  and  humanity. 

"All  the  others  whom  I  have  mentioned  above 
have  no  connection  with  Fouche  or  Tallien,  and  are 
reasonable  men,  perfectly  unrestrained  in  their  con- 
versation, quite  anti- Buonapartian,  and  as  much 
devoted  to  England.  To  such  men  Fox  has  given 
great  surprise  by  his  conversation,  as  he  has  given 
offence  to  his  friends  here.  He  talks  publicly  of 
Liberty  being  asleep  in  France,  but  dead  in  England. 
He  will  be  attacked  in  the  House  of  Commons  cer- 
tainly, and  1  think  will  find  it  difficult  to  justify  himself. 
He  has  been  damned  imprudent." 

At  the  time  of  Creevey's  entrance  to  the  House  of 
Commons,  Pitt  was  in  seclusion.  He  had  retired 
from  office  in  March,  1801,  putting  up  the  former 
Speaker,  Mr.  Addington,  as  Prime  Minister  and  Leader 
of  the  House  of  Commons.  George  HI.  heartily 
approved  of  this  arrangement,  although  on  the  face 
of  it  were  all  the  signs  of  instability.  Taking  Pitt 
and  Addington  aside  at  the  Palace  one  day — "  If  we 
three  keep  together,"  said  he,  "all  will  go  well."  But 
as  the  months  went  on,  Pitt  chafed  at  his  own  in- 
activity and  fretted  at  the  incapacity  of  his  nominee. 
Pitt's  friends  were  importunate  for  his  return ;  he 
himself  was  burning  to  take  the  reins  again,  but  was 
too  proud,  perhaps  too  loyal  to  Addington,  to  adopt 
overt  action  to  effect  it.  Moreover,  Addington,  who 
had  been  an  excellent  Speaker,  had  no  suspicion  of 
the  poor  figure  he  cut  as  head  of  the  Government.  It 
never  occurred  to  him  to  take  any  of  the  numerous 
hints  offered  by  Canning  and  other  Tories,  until  the 
necessity  for  some  change  was  forced  upon  him  by 

office  under  Louis  XVI II.  after  the  fall  of  Napoleon.  He  died  in  1820, 
a  naturalised  Austrian  subject,  having  amassed  enormous  wealth. 


1793-1S04.]        THE  ADDINGTON   MINISTRY.  9 

the  imminence  pf  disaster  from  the  disaffection  of  his 
followers.  He  offered  to  resign  the  Treasury  in 
favour  of  a  peer,  Pitt  and  he  to  share  the  administration 
of  affairs  as  Secretary  of  State.  This  proposal  Pitt 
brushed  contemptuously,  almost  derisively,  aside; 
matters  went  on  as  before,  except  that  the  former 
friendship  of  Pitt  and  Addington  was  at  an  end. 
When  Parliament  met  on  24th  November,  Pitt  did 
not  appear  in  the  House. 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Dr.  Ciirric. 

"25th  Nov.,  1802, 

"  I  went  yesterday  to  the  opening  of  our  campaign, 
with  some  apprehension,  I  confess,  as  I  knew  Pox 
was  to  be  there,  least  his  sentiments  upon  the  subject 
of  France  and  England  should  diminish  my  esteem  for 
him.  His  conduct,  however,  and  his  speech  were,  in 
my  mind,  in  every  respect  perfect;  and  if  he  will  let 
them  be  the  models  for  his  future  imitation,  he  will 
keep  in  the  Doctor  and  preserve  the  peace.  God  con- 
tinue Fox's  prudence  and  Pitt's  gout !  The  infamous 
malignity  and  misrepresentation  of  that  scoundrel 
Windham  did  injury  only  to  himself:  never  creature 
less  deserved  it  than  poor  Fox.  You  cannot  imagine 
the  pleasure  I  feel  in  having  this  noble  animal  still  to 
look  up  to  as  my  champion.  Nothing  can  be  so 
whimsical  as  the  state  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
The  Ministers,  feeble  beyond  all  powers  of  carica- 
turing, are  unsupported— at  least  by  the  acclama- 
tions— of  that  great  mass  of  persons  who  always 
support  all  Ministers,  but  who  are  ashamed /?^Z)/;c/v  to 
applaud  them.  They  are  insulted  by  the  indigent, 
mercenary  Canning,  who  wants  again  to  be  in  place, 
and  they  are  openly  pelted  by  the  sanguinary  faction  of 
Windham  and  the  Grenvillites  as  dastardly  poltroons, 
for  not  rushing  instantly  into  war.  Under  these 
circumstances  their  only  ally  is  the  old  Opposition. 
...  If  they  are  so  supported,  I  see  distinctly  that 
Fox  will  at  least  have  arrived  at  this  situation  that, 
tho'  unable  to   be   Minister  himself,  he  may  in  fact 


10  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  I. 

prevent  one  from  being  turned  out.  .  .  .  God  send  Pitt 
and  Dundas  anywhere  but  to  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  much  might,  I  think,  be  done  by  a  judicious 
dandling  of  the  Doctor. 

"  Lord  Henry  Petty  and  I  dined  together  yesterday. 
He  is  as  good  as  ever.  We  both  took  our  seats  behind 
old  Charley." 

The  treaty  of  Amiens  had  been  concluded  in  March, 
1802,  but  Bonaparte's  restless  ambition,  and  especially 
his  desire  to  re-establish  the  colonial  power  of  France, 
menaced  the  maritime  ascendancy  of  Great  Britain,  and 
Addington  watched  uneasily  the  war-clouds  gathering 
again  upon  the  horizon. 

In  February,  1803,  M.  Talleyrand  demanded  from 
Lord  Whitworth,  British  Ambassador  in  Paris,  an 
assurance  of  the  speedy  evacuation  of  Malta  by  King 
George's  Government,  in  compliance  with  the  tenth 
article  of  the  Treaty  of  Amiens,  which  provided  for 
the  restoration  of  that  island  to  the  Knights  of  St. 
John  of  Jerusalem.  In  reply  to  this,  Lord  Whitworth 
was  instructed  to  point  to  the  aggrandisement  of 
France  subsequent  to  and  in  contravention  of  the 
terms  of  the  said  treaty  as  justifying  the  British 
Government  in  delaying  the  evacuation.  On  18th 
February  Lord  Whitworth  had  a  personal  interview 
with  the  First  Consul,  when  he  failed  to  obtain  from 
him  any  admission  of  the  violation  by  the  French  of 
the  treaty,  or  any  assurance  that  the  redress  claimed 
for  certain  British  subjects  would  receive  considera- 
tion. Negotiations  dragged  on  till,  on  13th  March, 
Whitworth  had  a  stormy  interview  with  Bonaparte, 
who  charged  the  British  Government  with  being  deter- 
mined to  drag  him  into  war.  Finally,  on  12th  May  the 
rupture  was  complete ;  Lord  Whitworth  requested 
his  passport,  and  the  two  countries  were  at  war. 


1793-1804.]  SIR  JOHN    MOORE.  II 

Mr.  Creeveyto  Dr.  Currie. 

"nth  March,  1803. 

".  .  .  No  one  knows  the  precise  point  on  which 
the  damn'cl  Corsican  and  the  Doctor*  have  knocked 
their  heads  together,  but  I  must  think,  till  I  know 
more,  that  Addington  has  been  precipitate.  The  injury 
done  is  incalculable.  I  defy  any  man  to  have  con- 
fidence in  public  credit  in  future,  till  a  perfectly  new 
order  of  things  takes  place.  .  .  .  As  long  as  the  neigh- 
bouring Monster  lives,  he  will  bully  and  defy  us ;  and 
being  once  discovered,  as  it  now  is,  that  even  Adding- 
ton will  bluster  as  well  as  him  in  return,  I  see  no 
prospect  of  prosperity  in  this  country,  that  is — the 
prosperity  oi  peace — as  long  as  Buonaparte  lives.  .  .  . 
Was  it  not  lucky  that  I  sold  out  at  74^  ?  They  are 
to-day  about  64." 

"7th  April,  1S03. 

"...  I  have  barely  time  to  say  that  of  all  the  Men 
I  have  ever  seen,  your  countryman  General  Moore  f 
is  the  greatest  prodigy.  I  thank  my  good  fortune  to 
have  seen  so  much  of  him — such  a  combination  of 
acknowledged  fame,  of  devotion  from  all  who  have 
served  under  him — of  the  most  touching  simplicity 
and  yet  most  accomplished  manners — of  the  most 
capital  understanding,  captivating  conversation,  and 
sentiments  of  honour  as  exalted  as  his  practice.  .  .  . 
Think  of  such  a  beast  as  Pitt  treating,  almost  with 
contempt,  certainly  with  injury,  such  a  •  man  as 
Moore.  .  .  ." 

"18th. 

"...  I  think  if  I  was  to  say  anything  more  about 
General  Moore  to  you  than  what  1  wrote  to  you  from 
the  House  of  Commons,  it  would  only  be  diffusive.  .  .  . 
I  never  saw  the  Man  before  who  made  me  think  so 
much  about  him  after  each  time  that  I  had  seen  him. 
We  all  think  of  him  with  the  same  devotion.  .  .  ." 

*  Mr.  Addington. 

t  General  Sir  John  Moore,  K.B. 


12  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  I. 

Dr.  Ciirrie  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"Liverpool,  May  ist,  1803. 

"  I  was  infinitely  obliged  by  your  last  report,  and 
beg  of  you  to  give  me  another,  as  matters  draw  fast  to 
a  crisis.  I  will  expect  to  have  a  few  lines  at  latest  by 
the  post  of  Wednesday. 

"  I  fear  thi-s  Billy  *  will  come  in  after  all. 

"  I  have  to  tell  you  one  or  two  things  about  your 
friends  here. 

''  First,  I  have  been  attending  your  aunt,  Mrs, 
Eaton,  who  was  very  ill,  but  is  recovered.  I  was  to 
have  written  to  you  about  the  time  she  got  better,  but 
neglected  it.  But  in  answer  to  her  earnest  enquiries, 
I  delivered  your  love  (God  forgive  me)  and  your  con- 
gratulations on  her  recovery.  I  said  everything  kind 
and  civil  for  you  to  Eaton  too,  so  that  you  are  not  to 
pretend  that  you  did  not  hear  of  her  illness.  But  you 
are  now  to  write  a  few  lines  either  to  him  or  her  as 
soon  as  convenient,  saying  what  you  see  fit  on  so 
affecting  an  occasion — now  do  not  forget  this.  I 
cannot  think  how  the  old  lady  came  to  trust  herself 
in  my  hands,  for  I  had  just  been  in  at  the  death  of 
two  of  her  neighbours,  and  I  consider  my  being  called 
to  her  as  a  symptom  of  great  attachment  to  you,  and 
probably  in  its  consequences  no  way  unfavourable  to 
you.  For  I  must  tell  you  that  she  and  I  are  wondrous 
great,  and  we  talk  you  over  by  the  half-hour  together. 
She  and  he  seem  very  much  devoted  to  you.  .  .  .  They 
are  quite  pleased,  too,  with  Mrs.  Creevey. 

"Give  my  love  to  Moore f  when  you  see  him. 
Scarlett t  has  been  here  with  his  brother;  a  very 
worthy  fellow.  He  says  you  are  coming  on.  What 
sort  of  a  thing  is  this  presentation  ?  I  see  you  are  a 
nominee  in  the  Boston  election.  I  hope  it  is  for 
Maddock,  whom  I  know  a  little  and  like  a  good  deal. 

"We  are  all  cursed  flatt  here  about  the  spun  out 
negociations.    Nothing  doing.    Everything  stagnated. 

*  Mr.  Pitt. 

t  Captain  (afterwards  Admiral  Sir  Graham)  Moore,  R.N.,  brother 
to  Sir  John  Moore. 

X  Lord  Chief  Baron  of  the  Exchequer  in  1834;  created  Lord 
Abinger  in  1835. 


1793-1804.]  WAR.  13 

We  shall  have  war,  because  it  is  just  the  most  absurd 
thing  in  creation." 

Mr.  Creevcy  to  Dr.  Currie. 

"  Saturday,  7th  May. 

"  No  news  is  good  news,  you  know  they  say,  and 
at  this  moment  I  think  it  certainly  is.  Lord  Whit- 
worth  was  certainly  at  Paris  on  Wednesday  night  late, 
and  I  think  he  is  traced  as  far  as  Thursday.  It  is 
equally  certain  that  he  had  a  new  proposal  from  the 
Consul,*  and  this  is  still  better  news.  There  is  a 
general  inclination  to-day  to  think  we  shall  have  peace 
after  all.  ..." 

"  1 1  th  May. 

"...  I  supped  last  night  with  Fox  at  Mrs.  Bou- 
verie's  .  .  .  There  were  there  Grey,  Whitbread,  Lord 
Lauderdale,  Fitzpatrick,  Lord  Robert  Spencer,!  Lord 
John  Townshend  and  your  humble  servant.  .  .  .  You 
would  be  perfectly  astonished  at  the  vigour  of  body, 
the  energy  of  mind,  the  innocent  playfulness  and 
happiness  of  Fox.  The  contrast  between  him  and  his 
old  associates  is  the  most  marvellous  thing  I  ever 
saw — they  having  all  the  air  of  shattered  debauchees, 
of  passing  gaming,  drinking,  sleepless  nights,  whereas 
the  old  leader  of  the  gang  might  really  pass  for  the 
pattern  and  the  effect  of  domestic  good  order.  ...  A 
telegraphic  dispatch  announces  that  Lord  Whitworth 
has  left  Paris."! 

"Saturday,  14th  May. 

"...  A  messenger  has  arrived  to-day  who  left 
Paris  at  9  o'clock  Thursday  night,  and  Lord  Whit- 
worth was  to  leave  it  in  the  night,  or  rather  morning, 
at  two  ;  so  I  presume  he  will  be  in  England  on  Monday. 
Think  only  what  a  day  Monday  or  Tuesday  will  be 
in  the  House  of  Commons!  and  think  likewise' what 
a  damn'd  eternal  fool  the  Doctor  must  turn  out  to 
be.  Upon  my  soul !  it  is  too  shocking  to  think 
of  the  wretched  destiny  of  mankind  in  being  placed 

*  Bonaparte. 

t  Third  son  of  the  3rd  Duke  of  Marlborough. 

X  News  was  telegraphed  by  semaphore  signals. 


14  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  I. 

in  the  hands  of  such  pitiful,  squirting  politicians 
as  this  accursed  Apothecary*  and  his  family  and 
friends !  . . ." 

On  i6th  May  the  King  sent  a  message  to  the  House 
of  Commons  calling  upon  it  to  support  him  in  resist- 
ing the  aggressive  policy  of  France  and  the  ambitious 
schemes  of  the  First  Consul.  Pitt  might  no  longer 
hold  aloof. 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Dr.  Currie. 

"  i6th  May. 

"...  I  supped  with  Fox,  Grey,  &c.,  &c.,  last  night 
at  Whitbread's.  Fox  says  there  are  no  state  papers 
to  be  given  us  ;  the  v^hole  dispute  has  been  carried  on 
by  conversation.  It  began  in  consequence  of  some 
intemperate  furious  expression  of  Buonaparte  ;  it  re- 
lated to  Egypt.  .  .  .  The  Consul  got  irritated  ;  said 
he  would  put  himself  at  the  head  of  his  army  and 
invade  England.  But  the  offence  is  about  Egypt. 
He  said  upon  this  subject — Nous  Vaurons  malgre  vous! 
Fox  says  he  believes  this  conversation  to  be  the  origin 
of  the  dispute,  and  that  our  claims  upon  Malta  are  in 
the  way  of  recognizance  to  make  Buonaparte  keep  the 
peace.  .  .  ." 

"  20th. 

".  .  .  This  damned  fellow  Pitt  has  taken  his  seat 
and  is  here,  and,  what  is  worse,  it  is  certain  that  he 
and  his  fellows  are  to  support  the  war.  They  are  to 
say  the  time  for  criticism  is  suspended;  that  the 
question  is  not  now  whether  Ministers  have  been  too 
tardy  or  too  rash,  but  the  French  are  to  be  fought. 
Upon  my  soul !  the  prospect  has  turned  me  perfectly 
sick.  .  .  ." 

"21st. 

".  .  .  It  is  really  infinitely  droll  to  see  these  old 
rogues  so  defeated  by  the  Court  and  Doctor.  I  really 
think  Pitt  is  done :  his  face  is  no  longer  red,  but 
yellow  ;    his  looks  are  dejected ;   his   countenance   I 

*  Mr.  Addington. 


1793-1804.]  THE   RETURN    OF    PITT.  1 5 

think  much  changed  and  fallen,  and  every  now  and 
then  he  gives  a  hollow  cough.  Upon  my  soul,  hating 
him  as  I  do,  I  am  almost  moved  to  pity  to  see  his 
fallen  greatness.  I  saw  this  once  splendid  fellow 
drive  yesterday  to  the  House  of  Lords  in  his  forlorn, 
shattered  equipage,  and  I  stood  near  him  behind  the 
throne  till  two  o'clock  this  morning.  I  saw  no  ex- 
pression but  melancholy  on  the  fellow's  face — princes 
of  the  blood  passing  him  without  speaking  to  him,  and, 
as  I  could  fancy,  an  universal  sentiment  in  those 
around  him  that  he  was  done.  .  .  ." 


An  offer  of  mediation  between  Britain  and  France 
having  been  received  from  the  Emperor  Alexander  of 
Russia,  a  debate  arose  in  the  House  of  Commons. 

"  24th  May,  1803. 

".  .  .  Lord  Hawkesbury*  then  began  and  made  a 
very  elaborate  speech  of  two  hours,  containing  little 
inflammatory  matter,  and  being  a  fair  and  reasonable 
representation  of  his  case  and  justification  of  the  war. 
Erskine  followed  in  the  most  confused,  unintelligible, 
inefficient  performance  that  ever  came  from  the 
mouth  of  man.  Then  came  the  great  fiend  himself — 
Pitt — who,  in  the  elevation  of  his  tone  of  mind  and 
composition,  in  the  infinite  energy  of  his  style,  the 
miraculous  perspicuity  and  fluency  of  his  periods, 
outdid  (as  it  was  thought)  all  former  performances  of 
his.  Never,  to  be  sure,  was  there  such  an  exhibition  ; 
its  effect  was  dreadful.  He  spoke  nearly  two  hours — ■ 
all  for  war,  and  for  war  without  end.  He  would  say 
nothing  for  Ministers,  but  he  exhorted  or  rather 
coiurnandcd  them  to  lose  no  time  in  establishing 
measures  of  finance  suited  to  our  situation.  .  ,  .  Wil- 
berforce  made  an  inimitable  speech  for  peace  and  on 
grounds  the  most  calculated  for  popular  approbation. 
.  .  .  It  is  said  the  House  of  Commons  never  behaved 
so  ill  as  in  their  reception  of  this  speech.  They  tried 
over  and  over  again  to  cough  him  down,  but  without 
eff'ect.  .  .  ." 

*  Afterwards  Earl  of  Liverpool  and  Prime  Minister. 


l6  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  I. 

The  speech  referred  to  above  was  universally  ac- 
knowledged as  one  of  the  finest  ever  delivered  by  Pitt ; 
but  it  is  not  included  among  his  published  speeches, 
owing  to  the  accidental  exclusion  of  reporters  from 
the  gallery.  Fox  replied  on  the  second  night  of  the 
debate  in  a  speech  of  equal  merit ;  but  there  is  a  gap 
in  Creevey's  letters  covering  the  whole  of  the  rest  of 
the  session,  and  we  know  not,  though  we  may  imagine, 
the  effect  of  his  leader's  eloquence  upon  his  mind. 
His  next  letter  to  Dr.  Currie  deals  with  a  matter  of 
common  criticism  and  objection  at  the  present  day,  by 
men  of  all  parties — namely,  the  anomaly  of  the  Lord 
Lieutenancy  of  Ireland.  Nobody  can  explain  its 
merits  :  its  defects  are  patent  to  everybody ;  while 
the  selection  of  a  peer  to  fill  what  ought  to  be  one  of 
the  most  responsible  posts  in  any  administration,  has 
to  be  made  from  a  very  limited  number,  with  more 
regard  to  their  private  means  than  to  their  capacity 
for  public  service ;  so  excessive  is  the  expenditure 
entailed  upon  the  Lord  Lieutenant's  private  income. 
It  is  apparent  from  the  following  letter  that  the 
objection  is  nearly  as  old  as  the  Union : — 


Mr.  O'cevey  to  Dr.  Currie. 


"22nd  Aug.,  1S03. 

"...  I  saw  a  great  deal  of  Sheridan.  We  dined 
together  several  times,  got  a  little  bosky,  and  he  took 
great  pains  to  convince  me  he  was  sincere  and  confi- 
dential with  me.  ...  A  plan  of  his  relates  to  Ireland, 
and  it  is  the  substitution  of  a  Council  for  the  present 
Viceroy,  the  head  of  the  Council  to  be  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  his  assistants  to  be  Lord  Moira,  Lord  Hutchin- 
son and  Sheridan  himself  The  Prince  is  quite  heated 
upon  the  subject ;  nothing  else  is  discussed  by  them. 
Lord  Hutchinson  is  as  deep  in  the  design  as  any  of 
them,  but  God  knows  it  is  about  as  probable  as  the 


1 793-1804.]  PER  MARE  ET   TERRAS.  1 7 

embassy  of  old  Charley*  to  Russia.  I  believe  Sherry 
is  very  much  in  the  confidence  of  the  Ministers.  They 
have  convinced  him  of  the  difficulty  of  pressing  the 
King  for  any  attentions  to  the  Prince  of  Wales ;  he  is 
quite  set  against  him,  and  holds  entirely  to  the  Duke 
of  York,  who,  on  the  other  hand,  is  most  odious  to 
the  Ministry.  .  .  ,  Have  you  begun  your  visits  to 
Knowsley  yet  ?  .  .  .  If  you  see  Mrs.  Hornby,  cultivate 
her.     She  is  an  excellent  creature ;   her  husband,  the 

rector,  is  the  most  tiresome,  prosy  son   of  a  I 

ever  met  with,  but  is  worthy.  .  .  ." 

General  Sir  Jolm  Moore  to  Mr.  Crcevey. 

"  Sandgate,  15th  Sept.,  1803. 

".  .  .  The  newspapers  have  disposed  of  me  and 
my  troops  at  Lisbon  and  Cherbourgh,  but  we  be- 
lieve that  we  have  not  moved  from  this  place.  I 
begun  to  despair  of  seeing  you  here,  and  am  quite 
happy  to  find  that,  at  last,  1  am  to  have  that  pleasure. 
If  the  Miss  Ords  do  not  think  they  can  trust  to  the 
Camp  for  beaux,  or  if  they  have  any  in  attendance 
whose  curiosity  to  see  soldiers  they  may  chuse  to 
indulge,  assure  them  that  whoever  accompanies  them 
shall  be  cordially  received  by  everybody  here.  .  .  ." 

Capt.  Graliain  Moore,  R.N.,  to  Mr.  Creevcy. 

*'  Plymouth,  August  7th,  1803. 

"...  I  never  had  to  do  with  anew  ship's  company 
before  made  up  of  Falstaff 's  men — '  decayed  tapsters,' 
&c.,  so  I  do  not  bear  that  very  well  and  I  get  no  sea- 
men but  those  who  enter  here  at  Plymouth,  which  are 
very  few  indeed.  The  Admiralty  will  not  let  me  have 
any  who  enter  for  the  ship  at  any  of  the  other  ports, 
which  cuts  up  my  hopes  of  a  tolerable  ship's  company, 
...  I  hear  sometimes  from  my  brother  Jack.f  He 
says  they  have  had  a  review  of  his  whole  Corps 
before  the  Duke  of  York.  .  .  .  My  mother  was  more 
delighted  with  the  scene  than  any  boy  or  girl  of 
fifteen.  N.B. — she  is  near  70.  .  .  .  She  is  an  excellent 
mother  of  a  soldier.      I  am  not  afraid  of  showing  her 

*  Mr.  Fox.  t  General  Sir  John  Moore. 

C 


l8  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  I. 

to  Mrs.  Creevey,  altho'  she  is  of  a  very  different  cast 
from  what  she  has  generally  lived  with.  If  Mrs. 
Creevey  does  not  like  her,  1  shall  never  feel  how  the 
devil  she  came  to  like  me. 

"Jack  says  his  Corps  are  not  at  all  what  he  would 
have  them,  yet  that  they  will  beat  any  of  the  French 
whom  he  leads  them  up  to.  I  am  convinced  the 
French  can  make  no  progress  in  England,  and  do  not 
believe  now  that  they  will  attempt  it;  but  how  is  all 
this  to  end  ?  However  that  may  be,  as  I  am  in  for  it, 
I  wish  to  God  I  was  tolerably  ready,  and  scouring  the 
seas.  What  the  devil  can  Vox  mean  by  his  palaver 
about  a  military  command  for  the  Prince  of  Wales? 
That  may  come  well  enough  from  Mrs.  Barham 
perhaps." 

'■'■Indefatigable^  Cawsand  Bay,  Sept.  i6th,  1803. 

".  .  .  It  has  pleased  the  Worthies  aloft  to  keep 
us  in  expectation  of  sailing  at  an  hour's  notice  since 
Sunday  last.  This  is  very  proper,  I  am  sure,  and 
rather  inconvenient  too.  I  hate  to  be  a-going  a- 
going.  It  is  disagreeable  to  Jack,  because  I  have 
sent  all  his  wives  and  his  loves  on  shore,  and  altho' 
I  have  made  him  an  apology,  he  must  think  the 
Captain  is  no  great  things.  The  blackguards  will 
know  me  by-and-by.  They  seem  a  tolerable  set,  and 
I  am  already  inclined  to  love  them.  If  they  fight,  I  shall 
worship  them.  .  .  .  There  is  another  very  fine  frigate 
here,  as  ready  as  we  are — the  Fisgard,  commanded 
by  a  delightful  little  fellow.  Lord  Mark  Kerr.*_  He 
is  an  honour  to  Lords  as  they  go.  ...  If  there  is  to 
be  a  war  with  Spain,  it  would  be  well  to  let  us  know 
of  it  before  we  sail,  as  money — altho'  nothing  to  a 
philosopher — is  something  to  me.  I  am  growing  old, 
and  none  of  the  women  will  have  me  now  if  I  cannot 
keep  them  in  style,  and  you  know  there  is  no  carrying 
on  the  war  ashore  in  the  peace,  when  it  comes,  with- 
out animals  of  that  description.  .  .  .  The  most  cheer- 
ful fellow  on  politics  is  my  brother  Jack  ;  you'll  hear 
no  croaking  from  him.     He  says  it's  all  nonsense.  .  .  ." 

*  Third  son  of  the  5th  Marquess  of  Lothian:  married  the  Countess 
of  Antrim  in  her  own  right,  and  became  father  of  the  4th  and  5th  Earls 
of  Antrim.     Died  in  1840. 


1793-1804.]  THE  FRONT  BENCH.  19 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Dr.  Currie. 

"London,  Dec.  21,  1S03. 

".  .  .  My  impression  of  Addington  and  his  col- 
leagues during  this  short  part  of  the  Session,  has  been 
pretty  much  what  it  has  heretofore  been.  They  are, 
upon  my  soul,  the  feeblest — lowest  almost — of  Men, 
still  more  so  of  Ministers.  When  there  is  anything 
like  a  general  attack  upon  them,  they  look  as  if  they 
felt  it  all;  they  blush  and  look  at  one  another  in 
despair;  they  make  no  fight;  or,  if  they  offer  to  defend 
themselves,  no  one  listens  but  to  laugh  at  them. 
When  the  House  is  empty  and  their  enemies  are 
scattered,  they  rally  and  fall  in  a  body  upon  Wind- 
ham, call  him  all  kinds  of  names,  and  adopt  all  kinds 
of  the  most  unfounded  misrepresentations  of  his 
sentiments.  Upon  these  occasions  they  are  quite 
altered  men  ;  they  talk  loud  and  long,  and  cheer  one 
another  enough  to  pull  the  house  down.  These 
periodical  triumphs  look  well  upon  paper,  and  no 
doubt  must  captivate  a  great  portion  of  the  publick ; 
but  rely  upon  it,  the  bitterest  enemy  Windham  has 
in  the  world,  who  is  possessed  of  any  sense  and  any 
character,  turns  with  disgust  from  the  sound  of  these 
low-lived  philippics.  Bad — miserable  as  I  have  heard 
Erskine  in  the  House  of  Commons,  never  was  he  so 
execrable  as  on  the  night  when  you  rejoice  that  he 
attacked  Windham.  These  creatures  of  imbecillity 
have  no  such  thing  as  a  plan ;  they  live  by  temporary 
expedients  from  hand  to  mouth — by  the  contrary 
views  and  characters  of  their  opponents — by  that  very 
feebleness  which  in  itself  cannot  rouse  up  personal 
animosity  in  nobler  minds — by  low  cunning — by  appro- 
priate adoption  of  humility  and  impudence.  In  addi- 
tion to  all  this,  they  have  done  what  the  worst  men 
might  have  done — they  have  most  wickedly  and 
wantonly  plunged  us  into  this  contemptible  war,  and 
the  just  reputation  of  their  besotted  folly  throughout 
the  world  is  a  security  for  our  remaining  in  it,  till 
chance  or  accident  shall  relieve  us. 

"With  all  their  faults,  I  confess  they  are  well- 
behaved   and   civil,  as   compleatly  so   as   your   own 


20  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  Ch.  I. 

servant  can  be,  and  I  must  believe  that,  had  they  no 
restraint  upon  them  from  their  Master,  the  mediocrity 
of  their  understandings,  their  situation  in  life,  their 
private  characters  and  turns  of  mind,  would  not  per- 
mit them  to  think  of  gratifying  any  ambition  or  resent- 
ment by  either  desolating  the  world  by  war  or  tyran- 
nically  invading  the  liberties  of  their  country. 

"The  impression  of  Pitt  was  what  his  enemies 
most  triumphantly  delight  in ;  but  what  they  never 
could  have  been  sanguine  enough  to  expect,  his  speech 
was  the  production  of  the  dirtiest  of  mankind,  and  so 
it  was  received.  His  intimates — his  nearest  neigh- 
bours— Canning  and  Co.,  sat  mute,  astounded  and  evi- 
dently thinking  themselves  disgraced  by  the  shuffling 
tacticks  of  their  military  leader.  His  lingering  after 
Addington,  tho'  at  open  war  with  him  in  print — his 
caution  of  touching  either  Fox  or  Windham,  those 
proscribed  victims  of  fortune — his  senseless  vapouring 
and  most  untrue  and  envious  criticism  upon  volun- 
teers, and,  above  all,  his  officious  and  disgusting  senti- 
ment as  to  the  recovery  of  his  Majesty's  electoral  do- 
minion,* accommodated  all  his  hearers  with  sufficient 
reasons  for  condemnation,  and,  for  once  in  his  life,  I 
have  no  doubt  this  prodigy  of  art  and  elocution  had  in 
his  favorite  theatre  not  a  single  admirer.  Canning 
and  Sturges,  talking  to  me  afterwards  about  the 
excellence  of  Fox's  speech,  said  what  a  pity  it  was  Pitt 
had  not  taken  the  same  manly  part.  1  asked  why  he 
had  not  done  so,  and  they  shrugged  up  their  shoulders 
and  said  a  man  who  had  been  minister  eighteen  years 
was  a  bad  opposition  man. 

"  Old  Charley  was  himself,  and  of  course  was  ex- 
quisitely delightful.  Unfettered  by  any  hopes  or 
fears — by  any  systems  or  connection — he  turned  his 
huge  understanding  loose  amongst  these  skirmishers, 
and  it  soon  settled,  with  its  usual  and  beautiful  per- 
spicuity, all  the  points  that  came  within  the  decision 
of  reasoning,  judgment,  experience  and  knowledge  of 
mankind.  In  addition  to  the  correctness  of  his  views 
and  delineations,  he  was  all  fire  and  simplicity  and 
sweet  temper;  and  the  effect  of  these  united  per- 
fections upon  the  House  was  as  visible  in  his  favor  as 

*  The  kingdom  of  Hanover. 


i?93-i8o4.]         LAUDATOR   TEMPORIS  ACTI.  21 

their  disappointment  and  disgust  had  been  before  at 
the  unworthy  performance  of  Colonel  Pitt. 

"  It  is  almost  too  advanced  a  state  of  my  letter  to 
take  in  the  Windhams  and  Co.  We  all  know  that  he 
and  the  Grenvilles  have  been  the  merciless  blood- 
hounds of  past  times,  and  no  friend  of  Fox  can  ever 
forget  or  forgive  the  bitter  malignity  with  which 
Windham  pursued  and  hunted  down  the  great  and 
amiable  creature.  But  as  a  party,  and  with  such  a  foil 
to  it  as  the  present  administration,  they  are  entitled 
to  greater  weight  than  they  have." 

One  constantly  hears  lamentation  from  grave 
persons  over  the  deterioration  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons from  some  past  ideal ;  but  just  as  people  are 
accustomed  now  to  look  back  upon  the  time  when 
Pitt  and  Fox  were  protagonists  as  the  true  parlia- 
mentary golden  age,  so  it  was  in  that  day.  In  con- 
cluding this  long  letter,  Creevey,  who  had  just  one 
year  of  parliamentary  experience,  moralises  upon  the 
lowered  tone  of  the  debates. 

"  Windham,  Lord  Grenville  and  Elliott  have  great 
parliamentary  talents,  and  Tom  Grenville  is  most 
respectable  in  the  same  way,  and  of  a  high  and  unsullied 
character.  They  are  of  the  old  school  as  compared 
with  the  Ministry  ;  they  are  full  of  courage,  of 
acquirements,  of  elevated  manners  ;  there  is  nothing 
low  in  the  fellows,  there  is  no  cringing  to  power  or 
popularity.  In  Fox's  absence  they  are  the  only  repre- 
sentatives of  past  and  better  days  in  Parliament." 

"21  Jan.,  1804. 

".  .  .  When  I  repeat  any  of  Sheridan's  opinions,  I 
do  so  with  more  doubt  than  in  stating  the  opinions  of 
any  other  persons,  for  he  has  acquired  such  tricks  at 
Drury  Lane,  such  skill  in  scene-shifting,  that  I  am 
compelled  by  experience  to  listen  with  distrust  to  him. 
For  the  last  three  months  he  has  been  damning  Fox 
in  the  midst  of  his  enemies,  and  in  his  drunken  and 
unguarded  moments  has  not  spared  him  even  in  the 


22  THE  CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [^it.  I. 

circles  of  his  most  devoted  admirers.  He  did  so  at 
Woburn,  the  Duke  of  Bedford's,  and  was  (as  you  may 
have  heard)  challenged  for  it  upon  the  spot  by  Adair.* 
Whitbread,  who  was  present  and  who  made  it  up  (for 
Sheridan  accepted  the  challenge),  told  me  all  the  par- 
ticulars. Now  he  apparently  is  much  pacified  and 
less  inclined  to  volunteer  his  panegyric  upon  the 
Doctor  ;t  and  if  one  may  venture  to  guess  at  the 
motive  in  so  perfect  a  performer  in  all  mysterious 
arts,  I  should  say  he  had  been  damnably  galled  by 
the  coldness  with  which  Fox's  friends  resented  the 
abuse  of  the  old  fellow,  and  that  the  dinners  and 
stupidity  of  Addington  and  his  family  parties  had 
been  but  a  poor  recompense  for  his  treachery  to  Fox, 
and  that  he  was  creeping  back  as  well  as  he  is  able 
into  his  old  place.  Tierney,  as  you  may  suppose, 
would  be  dished  by  Pitt  and  Addington  embracing, 
and  he  is  therefore  laboring  to  keep  the  present 
administration  as  it  is,  and  with  this  view  is  in- 
cessantly intriguing  for  support  of  it.  ...  I  forget 
whether  I  ever  told  you  of  his  inviting  me  to  dinner 
once.  It  was  to  meet  Brogden  and  Col.  Porter,  two 
cursed  rum  touches  that  he  has  persuaded  to  vote 
with  him  and  to  desert  Fox;  so  I  told  Mrs.  Creevey 
before  I  went  that  I  was  sure  I  was  invited  to  be 
converted.  Accordingly,  after  a  decent  time  and  a 
considerable  allowance  of  wine  had  been  consumed 
after  dinner,  my  gentlemen  begun  to  open  their 
batteries  upon  me.  I  returned  their  fire  by  telling 
them  I  should  save  them  much  time  and  trouble  by 
stating  to  them  at  once  that  my  political  creed  was 
very  simple  and  within  a  very  narrow  compass — that 
it  was  '  Devotion  to  Fox.'  And  so  we  all  got  to 
loggerheads  directly,  and  jawed  and  drank  till  twelve 
or  one  o'clock,  and  I  suppose  I  was  devilish  abusive, 
for  they  are  all  as  shy  as  be  damned  of  me  ever  since." 

*  Sir  Robert  Adair  [1763-185 5],  Whig  member  for  Appleby, 
famous  as  the  target  of  Canning's  frequent  satire.  Canning  wrote  of 
him  as  "  Bawba-dara-adul-phoolah,"  and  introduced  him  to  im- 
mortahty  by  making  him  the  hero  of  the  ballad  "Sweet  Matilda 
Pottingen,"  which  was  supposed  to  describe  the  course  of  Adair's  love 
when  he  was  a  student  at  Gottingen. 

t  Addington. 


1793-1804.]  PITT  AND   FOX  AS  ALLIES.  23 

Pitt's  intolerance  of  Addington  now  passed  into 
an  active  phase,  and  the  unfortunate  Prime  Minister 
found  himself  under  a  cross-fire  directed  by  the  two 
most  powerful  men  in  the  House — Pitt  and  Fox.  The 
following  notes  dispel  any  doubt  which  may  still  exist 
as  to  the  formal  and  explicit  understanding  between 
these  ancient  antagonists  for  the  object  which  both 
had  at  heart,  though  for  very  different  reasons,  namely, 
the  overthrow  of  Addington  : — 

Rt.  Hon.  Charles  Fox  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"Arlington  St.,  Saturday  [1804], 

"Dear  Sir, 

"  I  enclose  you  a  part  of  a  letter  from  Grey. 
If  you  can  speak  to  Brandling  *  upon  the  subject  you 
may  tell  him  that  in  all  the  divisions  we  shall  have 
this  next  week,  either  Mr.  Pitt  will  be  with  us  or  we 
with  him. 

"  Yours, 

"C.  J.  Fox." 

Enclosure  in  above. 

"  My  dear  Fox, 

"  I  forgot  yesterday  to  answer  your  question 
about  Brandling.  He  is  not  at  present  in  this  count^^ 
[Northumberland],  and  I  don't  know  whether  he  is  in 
London  or  in  Yorkshire.  Creevey,  his  brother-in-law, 
will  be  able  to  suggest  the  best  mode  of  applying  to 
him  ;  but  I  should  think,  notwithstanding  his  hatred 
ot  the  Doctor,  that  he  would  not  vote  against  liim 
without  Pitt." 

The  unnatural  alliance  between  Pitt  and  Fox  was 
manifested  in  its  least  commendable  aspect  upon  the 
occasion  of  Pitt's  motion  for  an  inquiry  into  the 
administration  of  the   First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty, 

*  Mr.  Brandling,  M.P.  for  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  was  Mrs.  Crcevcy's 
brother. 


24  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [ClI.  I. 

Earl  St.  Vincent,  who  had  not  only  contributed  to 
securing  for  his  country  the  mastery  of  the  ocean, 
but,  by  means  of  the  Commission  of  Inquiry  which  he 
established  as  First  Lord,  had  exposed  and  put  an 
end  to  many  abuses  in  the  service.  Pitt's  motion,  of 
course,  was  hostile  to  the  gallant  admiral,  through 
whose  discredit  he  sought  to  bring  Addington's 
Government  into  disgrace;  and  Fox  supported  the 
motion  in  a  speech  the  insincerity  of  which  was  not 
inferior  to  that  of  Pitt,  and  staggered  even  such  a 
good  party  man  as  Creevey. 

Capt.  Graham  Moore,  R.N.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"Plymouth  Dock,  Feby.  ist,  1804. 

"...  I  suppose  you  mean  to  join  the  set  that 
prepare  to  worry  the  poor  Doctor  when  Parliament 
meets.  What  can  he  do?  He  seems,  or  we  seem,  to 
do  as  well  as  Bonoparte — fretting  and  fuming  and 
playing  off  his  tricks  from  Calais  to  Boulogne  and 
back  again.  The  fellow  has  done  too  much  for  a 
mere  hum ;  he  certainly  will  try  something,  and  1 
hope  to  be  in  at  the  death  of  some  of  his  expeditions. 
If  they  do  not  take  my  men,  we  shall  soon  be  ready 
for  sea  again.  New  copper,  my  boy!  we  shall  sail 
like  the  wind.  .  ;  ." 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Dr.  Ciirrie. 

"22  March,  1804. 

".  .  .  With  respect  to  the  debate  .  .  .  nothing 
could  be  ...  so  unlike  a  case  against  Lord  St.  Vincent: 
I  really  doubted  the  fidelity  of  my  ears  all  the  time  I 
listened  to  him  (Fox),  he  was  so  very  unlike  himself. 
His  first  reply  was  a  great  and  striking  display  of  his 
powers,  but  the  charge  against  the  Admiralty  derived 
little  support  or  elucidation  from  it.  I  confess  1  felt 
a  wish  that  Fox  would  not  have  taken  the  part  he  did, 
because  I  cannot  reconcile  it  to  my  notions  either  of 
private  friendship  or  parliamentary  justice  to  put  a 


1793-1S04.]  THE   BONDS    OF    PARTY.  2$ 

man  upon  his  trial,  because  I  am  sure  he  is  innocent. 
There  were,  however,  most  powerful  arguments  urged 
by  Fox  that  in  a  great  measure  reconciled  me  to  the 
vote  I  gave,  and  indeed  had  they  been  much  less  and 
much  weaker,  I  should  most  readily  have  gone  with 
him.  A  Leader  of  a  Party  has  a  most  difficult  part 
imposed  upon  him  on  such  an  occasion.  It  is  im- 
possible he  can  be  alone  influenced  by  the  abstract 
question  of  merit  or  demerit  of  the  motion  but  of 
course  must  calculate  in  every  ivay  upon  the  effects  of 
his  vote.  As  a  private  of  a  party  there  is  nothing  so 
fatal  to  publick  principle,  or  one's  own  private  respect 
and  consequence,  as  acting  for  oneself  upon  great 
questions.  I  am  more  passionately  attached  ever}^ 
day  to  Party.  I  am  certain  that  without  it  nothing 
can  be  done,  and  I  am  more  certain  from  every  day's 
experience  that  the  leader  of  the  party  to  which  I 
belong  is  as  superior  in  talents,  in  enlightened  views, 
in  publick  and  private  virtues,  to  all  other  party 
leaders  as  one  human  being  can  be  to  another.  He 
must  therefore  give  many,  many  votes  that  I  may 
think  are  wrong,  before  I  vote  against  him  or  not 
with  him. 

"  I  scarcely  know  an  earthly  blessing  I  would  pur- 
chase at  the  expense  of  those  sensations  I  feel  towards 
the  incomparable  Charley  !  " 

"  2nd  April. 

".  .  .  The  fact  is  I  believe,  as  I  have  always  done, 
that  the  Regal  function  will  never  more  be  exercised 
by  him  (George  III.),  and  the  Dr.*  has  most  impudently 
assumed  these  functions  in  doing  what  he  has  done. 

"And  now  again  for  speculation.  I  can  swear  to 
what  Sheridan  will  try  for,  if  the  thing  does  not  too 
suddenly  come  to  a  crisis.  His  insuperable  vanity 
has  suggested  to  him  the  brilliancy  of  being  first  with 
the  Prince  and  governing  his  councils.  He  will,  if  he 
sees  it  practicable,  try,  and  is  now  trying,  to  alienate 
the  Prince  from  Fox,  and  to  reconcile  him  to  the 
wretched  Addington.  The  effect  of  such  a  diabolical 
project  is  doubtless  to  be  dreaded  with  a  person  so 
unsteady   as   the   Prince;   but   then   again   there   are 

*  Mr.  Addinston. 


26  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  I. 

things  that  comfort  me.  If  the  Prince  has  a  point  on 
which  he  is  uniform,  it  is  a  proud  and  just  attachment 
to  the  old  Nobility  of  the  country,  articles  which 
fortunately  find  no  place  in  the  composition  of  the 
present  ministers.  His  notion,  too,  of  Sheridan,  I 
believe,  has  not  much  to  do  with  his  qualities  for  a 
statesman.  Devonshire  House,  too,  is  his  constant 
haunt,  where  every  one  is  against  Sheridan ;  and 
where  the  Prince,  at  his  own  request,  met  Grey  three 
weeks  ago  and  offered  him  any  pledge  as  a  security 
for  his  calling  Fox  to  his  councils  whenever  he  had 
the  power.  Master  Sherry  does  not  know  this,  and 
of  course  it  must  not  be  known ;  but  I  know  it  and 
am  certain  of  the  fact.  Sheridan  displays  evident 
distrust  of  his  own  projects,  and  is  basely  playing  an 
under  game  as  Fox's  friend,  in  the  event  of  defeat  to 
him  and  his  Dr.  I  never  saw  conduct  more  distinctly 
base  than  his." 

"  1st  May. 

".  .  .  The  enemy  of  mankind  is  Pitt.  1  detest  from 
the  bottom  of  my  heart  him  and  all  his  satellites.  I 
am  sure,  too,  that,  independent  of  his  dispositions,  his 
mind  is  of  a  mean  and  little  structure,  much  below  the 
requisite  for  times  like  these — active,  intriguing  and 
most  powerful,  but  all  in  detail,  quite  incapable  of 
accompanying  the  elevated  views  of  Fox." 

Addington  stuck  stiffly  to  his  post,  but  the  forces 
allied  against  him  in  the  Commons  proved  irresistible 
in  the  end;  in  May,  1804,  he  resigned,  and  Pitt  entered 
upon  his  last  administration.  Addington,  smother- 
ing his  resentment  of  the  rough  handling  he  had 
received,  joined  Pitt's  Cabinet  as  President  of  the 
Council  in  January,  1805,  accepting  at  the  same  time 
the  peerage  which  he  had  previously  declined.  Pitt 
would  have  given  Fox  a  share  in  the  administration 
hardly  inferior  to  his  own,  but  the  King  would  not 
hear  of  it,  and  thus  was  lost  for  ever  the  noble  project 
of  uniting  the  chief  political  parties  for  the  defence  of 
the  Empire. 


1793-1804.]         THE   HOPE   OF  THE  WHIGS.  27 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Dr.  Currie. 

"  2nd  May,  1804. 

".  .  .  It  is  felt  by  the  Pittites  that  the  Prince  and 
a  Regency  must  be  resorted  to,  and  as  the  Prince 
evinced  on  every  occasion  the  strongest  decision  in 
favor  of  Fox,  the  Pittites  are  preparing  for  a  reci- 
procity of  good  offices.  God  send  we  may  have  a 
Regency,  and  then  the  cards  are  in  our  hands.  I  wish 
you  had  seen  the  party  of  which  I  formed  one  in  the 
park  just  now.  Lord  Buckingham,  his  son  Temple, 
Ld.  Derby,  Charles  Grey,*  Ld.  Fitzwilliam,  Canning, 
Ld.  Morpeth  f  and  Ld.  Stafford.^:  .  .  .  The  four 
physicians  were  at  Buckingham  House  this  morning : 
I  feel  certain  he  (the  King)  is  devilish  bad.  .  .  ." 

"  3rd  May. 
"  Under  our  present  circumstances  no  news  is 
good  news,  because  it  shows  there  are  great  diffi- 
culties in  making  the  peace  between  the  King  and 
Pitt.  .  .  .  The  King  has  communicated  to  him  that  he 
will  see  him  to-morrow  or  Saturday,  lohich  com- 
mimication  Pitt  immediately  forwarded  to  Fox.  There 
is,  I  hope,  much  value  in  these  facts  :  they  show,  I 
hope,  that  the  Monarch  is  done,  and  can  no  longer 
make  Ministers ;  they  show  too,  I  hope,  that  Pitt 
thinks  so.  Why  this  delay  at  such  a  time  if  the  King 
is  well?  Why  this  civility  from  Pitt  to  Fox?  if  the 
former  did  not  suspect  no  good  was  to  come  of  his 
interviews  with  his  Master.  We  are  all  in  better 
spirits — by  'all,'  I  mean  the  admirers  of  Fox  and 
haters  of  Pitt.  .  .  ." 

'^  Sth  May. 

".  .  .  I  was  too  late  for  last  night's  post,  and 
besides  1  was  struck  dumb  and  lifeless  by  the 
elevation  of  that  wretch  Pitt  to  his  former  fatal 
eminence— sick  to  death,  too,  with  something  like  a 
sensation  of  Fox's  disgrace  and   defeat,  and  of  the 

*  Afterwards  2nd  Earl  Grey, 
t  Afterwards  6th  Earl  of  Carlisle. 

X  2nd   Marquess  of   Stafford ;    created    Duke   of  Sutherland   in 
1833. 


28  THE   CREEVEY   PArERS.  [Cn.  I. 

termination  of  all  our  hopes.  But  I  am  better  to-day  ; 
the  Grenvilles  and  Wyndhamites  have  to  a  man  stuck 
fast  to  Fox  and  refuse  to  treat  with  Pitt.  The  Prince, 
too,  loads  Fox  with  caresses,  and  swears  his  father's 
exception  to  Fox  alone  is  meant  as  the  last  and 
greatest  of  personal  injuries  to  himself,  because  the 
King  knows  full  well  that  Fox  is  the  first  favorite  of 
the  Prince." 

"  Park  Place,  June  3nd,  1804. 

".  .  .  Well — I  think,  considering  we  have  certainly 
been  out-jockeyed  by  the  villain  Pitt,  we  are  doing 
famously.  Pitt,  I  think,  is  in  a  damnable  dilemma; 
his  character  has  received  a  cursed  blow  from  the 
appearance  of  puzzle  in  his  late  conduct,  from  the 
wretched  farce  of  [illegible]  turning  out  Addington, 
and  keeping  those  who  were  worse  than  him ;  and 
from  his  having  produced  no  military  plans  yet,  after 
all  his  anathemas  against  the  late  Ministers  for  their 
delay.  The  country,  I  now  firmly  believe,  was  tired 
of  Pitt  and  even  of  the  Court,  and  conceived  some 
new  men  and  councils,  and  above  all  an  union  of 
all  great  men,  was  a  necessary  experiment  for  the 
situation.  Pitt  has  disappointed  this-  wish  and 
expectation,  and  has  shown  no  necessity  that  has 
compelled  him  so  to  do.  He  has  all  the  air  of  having 
acted  a  rapacious,  selfish,  shabby  part ;  he  is  sur- 
rounded by  shabby  partizans ;  in  comparison  with 
his  own  relations,  the  Grenvilles,  he  is  degraded  ;  he 
has  no  novelty  to  recommend  him  ;  his  Master*  is  on 
the  wane,  and  to  a  certain  extent  is  evidently  hostile 
to  him.  In  addition  to  all  this,  the  daily  and  nightly 
attendance  of  Dr.  Simmonds  and  four  physicians  at 
Buckingham  House  must  inevitably  increase  the 
Prince's  power,  and  diminish  that  of  Pitt.  I  saw  these 
five  Drs.  and  Dundass,  the  surgeon  from  Richmond, 
come  out  of  Buckingham  House  with  Pitt  half  an 
hour  ago.  Simmonds  and  one  of  the  physicians 
allways  return  at  five  in  the  evening — the  former  for 
the  night — the  latter  for  some  hours.  I  have  watched 
and  know  their  motions  well.  This  must  end  surely 
at  no  distant  period — a  Regency — and  then  I  hope 

*  George  III. 


1793-1804.]  THREATS    OF    INVASION.  29 

the  game's  our  own !  In  the  mean  time,  these  dinners 
and  this  activity  of  the  Prince  are  certainly  doing 
good,  and  our  friends  are  much  more  numerous  than 
I  expected.  We  are  a  great  body — the  Prince  at  the 
head  of  us.  Fox,  Grey,  &c.,  are  all  in  great  spirits. 
.  .  .  Your  humble  servant  partakes  in  the  passing 
festivities  of  these  Opposition  grandees.  I  dine 
to-morrow  at  Lord  Pltzwilliam's,  this  day  week  at 
Carlton  House ;  Monday  I  dined  at  Lord  Derby's.  I 
really  believe  I  have  played  my  cards,  so  far, 
excellently  with  these  people." 


General  Sir  John  Moore  to  Mr.  Crcevey. 

**  Sandgate,  27th  Aug.,  1804. 

".  .  .  We  understand  that  Government  have 
positive  information  that  we  are  to  be  invaded,  and  I 
am  told  that  Pitt  believes  it.  The  experience  of  the 
last  twelve  months  has  taught  me  to  place  little 
confidence  in  the  information  or  belief  of  Ministers, 
and  as  the  undertaking  seems  to  me  so  arduous,  and 
offering  so  little  prospect  of  success,  I  cannot  per- 
suade myself  that  Bonoparte  will  be  mad  enough  to 
attempt  it.  He  will  continue  to  threaten,  by  which 
means  alone  he  can  do  us  harm.  The  invasion 
would,  I  am  confident,  end  in  our  glory  and  in  his 
disgrace. 

"The  newspapers  continue  to  mention  secret 
expeditions,  and  have  sometimes  named  me  as  one  of 
the  Generals  to  be  employed.  I  put  these  upon  a  par 
with  the  invasion.  We  have  at  present  no  dispose- 
able  force,  and,  if  we  had,  I  see  no  object  worthy 
upon  which  to  risk  it.  Thus,  without  belief  in  in- 
vasion or  foreign  expeditions,  my  situation  here 
becomes  daily  more  irksome,  and  I  am  almost  reduced 
to  wish  for  peace.  I  am  tired  of  the  confinement, 
without  the  occupation,  of  war." 

In  the  following  letter  from  Dr.  Currie  occurs  the 
first  mention  of  one,  hitherto  unheard  of,  with  whom 
Creevey   was   destined   to    be    long    and   intimately 


30  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  I. 

associated.  Currie  complains  of  the  unfairness  of 
Henry  Brougham's  criticism  of  "  Lord  Lauderdale's 
very  ingenious  book." 

"2nd  October,  1804. 

".  .  .  The  review  of  his  book  in  the  Edinr. 
Rcviciv  is  every  way  unfair  and  foul.  It  is  by  a 
scatter-brained  fellow,  one  Brougham,  who  wrote  two 
volumes  on  colonial  policy,  the  two  practical  objects 
of  which  were — to  abolish  the  slave-trade,  and  to 
propose  that  we  should  join  our  armies  to  those  of 
the  French  for  the  extirpation  of  the  Negroes  of 
St.  Domingo.  .  .  .  He  has  got  a  sort  of  philosophical 
cant  about  him,  and  a  way  of  putting  obscure 
sentences  together,  which  seem  to  fools  to  contain 
deep  meaning,  especially  as  an  air  of  consummate 
petulance  and  confidence  runs  through  the  whole. 
He  has  been  taken  up,  I  am  told,  by  Wilberforce,  and 
is  paying  his  court  to  Pitt.  He  is  a  notorious 
prostitute,  and  is  setting  himself  up  to  sale.  It 
seems  Ld.  Lauderdale  offended  him  by  refusing  to 
be  introduced  to  him,  but  it  is  to  pay  court  to  Pitt, 
depend  on  it,  that  he  writes  as  he  does.  .  .  .  You 
may  mention  this  to  Mr.  Grey." 


Lord  Henry  Petty  [afterwards  -^rd  Marquess  of 
Lansdownel  to  Mr.  Crcevey. 

"Bath,  Nov.  23rd,  1804. 

"...  [We  are]  within  a  few  doors  here  of  Ld. 
Thurlow's  house,  which  has  been  recently  honor'd 
with  a  Royal  visit,  when,  as  you  may  suppose,  the 
whole  scene  of  ministerial  intrigue  and  family 
negociation  was  laid  open :  some  legal  business  of 
importance  was  also  transacted,  for  one  lawyer  came 
down  with  the  P.,  and  another  was  sent  for  while  he 
remained.  .  .  .  Most  probably  it  relates  to  some 
arrangement  for  the  Princess.  I  am  really  glad  to 
find  he  has  conducted  himself  with  so  much  firmness, 
and  at  the  same  time  with  some  decorum.  I  give  him 
the  more  credit  for  it,  as  I  suspect  the  councils  of 


1793-1804.]  THE    IRISH    DIFFICULTY.  31 

Carlton   House  are  not  composed  of  the  most  high- 
minded  or  immaculate  statesmen.* 

"I  have  received  a  long  and  interesting  letter  from 
Mr.  Parnell  with  an  account  of  the  Catholic  proceed- 
ings in  Dublin,  which  have  at  last  assumed  a  very 
formidable  aspect,  .  .  .  He  says — '  In  a  month's  time 
three  millions  of  men  will  be  formed  into  a  well- 
disciplined  and  united  body,  headed  by  men  of  great 
wealth,  and,  what  is  better,  great  prudence.  Weak  as 
this  Empire  was  in  civil  power,  it  is  still  further 
weakened  by  being  divided  with  Foster;!  so  that  I 
do  not  think  I  shall  be  mistaken  in  saying  that  all  the 
moral  force  which  influences  men's  minds  and  their 
actions  thro'  their  opinions  will  be  lodged  in  the 
hands  of  the  Catholics ;  and  unless  the  Irish  Govt, 
can  raise  a  rebellion,  which  I  do  not  think  they  can, 
they  will  fall  into  an  insignificance  equal  to  their 
deserts.'  He  adds  that  the  meeting  in  Dublin  was 
attended  by  upwards  of  eighty  gentlemen,  the  poorest 
of  whom  has  ;^20oo  per  ann.  However  the  mere 
question  of  numbers  may  stand,  Pitt's  situation  must, 
1  think,  appear  far  more  critical  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  ensuing,  than  at  the  close  of  the  last, 
session.  No  army  raised  at  home — no  foreign  con- 
nections made  or  improved — on  the  contrary,  a  new 
war  unnecessarily  undertaken,  and  ungraciously 
entered  upon— the  Catholic  body  united  in  their 
demands,  founded  on  past  promises,  and  a  powerfull 
and  unbroken  Opposition  ready  and  willing  to 
support.  If  such  a  combination  of  circumstances 
does  not  shake  the  Treasury  bench,  what  mortal 
power  can  ?  .  .  ." 

*  "  At  that  period  we  had  a  kind  of  Cabinet,  with  whom  I  used  to 
consult.  They  were  the  Dukes  of  York,  Portland,  Devonshire  and 
Northumberland,  Lord  Guilford  (that  was  Lord  North),  Lords 
Stormont,  Moira  and  Fitzwilliam  and  Charles  ¥o\.^'—State7ncnt  by 
George  IV.  to  J.  IV.  Crokcr  [The  Croker  Papers,  i.  2S9]. 

t  Right  Hon.  J.  Foster,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  of  Ireland. 


(       32       ) 


CHAPTER   11. 

1805. 

The  following  holograph  note,  without  date,  probably 
belongs  to  the  year  1805,  and  is  interesting  as  being 
written  by  the  future  William  IV.  on  behalf  of  the 
future  George  IV.  : — 

H.R.H.  the  Duke  of  Clarence  to  Mr.  Creevey 
[holograph]. 

"  St.  James's,  Friday  night. 

"  Dear  Sir, 

"  The  Prince  desires  you  will  meet  at  dinner 
here  on  Saturday  the  Eighteenth  instant  at  six  o'Clock 
Lord  \_illegible']  and  Sheridan.  I  hope  I  need  not  add 
how  happy  your  presence  will  make  me.     I  remain 

"Yours  sincerely, 

"  William." 

Foreign  politics  during  these  years  .absorbed  all 
the  energies  of  Ministers,  and  diverted  Pitt  from  those 
schemes  of  reform  which  undoubtedly  lay  near  his 
heart.  But  the  spirit  of  reform  was  awake,  though  it 
was  crushed  out  of  the  plans  of  the  Cabinet  by  stress  of 
circumstance.  The  Opposition  enjoyed  more  freedom 
and  less  responsibility,  Creevey  attached  himself  to 
that  section  of  it  which  was  foremost  in  hunting  out 
abuses  and  proposing  drastic  measures  of  redress. 
At  this  time  Henry  Dundas,  Viscount  Melville,  was 


iSo5.]  MELVILLE'S    DISGRACE.  33 

First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty.  The  loth  Report  of  the 
Commission  appointed  "to  inquire  into  frauds  and 
abuses  in  the  Royal  Navy  "  contained  grave  charges 
against  Melville,  who  was  accused  in  the  House  of 
Commons  of  malversation  in  his  office  of  Treasurer 
of  the  Navy,  committed  in  years  subsequent  to  1782. 
The  division  on  8th  April  showed  216  votes  in  each 
lobby,  when  the  Speaker  gave  his  casting  vote  in 
favour  of  Whitbread's  motion.  Melville  at  once  re- 
signed, and  his  name  was  erased  from  the  list  of  Privy 
Councillors.  He  was  impeached  before  the  House  of 
Lords  and  acquitted,  but  not  till  12th  June,  1806,  six 
months  after  Pitt's  death. 

"  I  have  ever  thought,"  wrote  Lord  Fitzharris, 
"  that  an  aiding  cause  in  Pitt's  death,  certainly  one 
that  tended  to  shorten  his  existence,  was  the  result 
of  the  proceedings  against  his  old  friend  and  colleague 
Lord  Melville." 


Mr.  Crccvcy  to  Dr.  Cttrrie. 

"  13th  March,  1S05. 

"...  I  am  trying  to  learn  my  lesson  as  a  future 
Under-Secretary  or  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  .  .  . 
We  had  a  famous  debate  on  Sheridan's  motion  :  never 
anything  was  so  hollow  as  the  argument  on  our  side. 
Sherry's  speech  and  reply  were  both  excellent.  In  that 
part  of  his  reply  when  he  fired  upon  Pitt  for  his 
treachery  to  the  Catholics,  Pitt's  eyes  started  with 
defiance  from  their  sockets,  and  seemed  to  tell  him 
if  he  advanced  an  atom  further  he  would  have  his 
life.  Sherry  left  him  a  little  alone  and  tickled  him 
about  the  greatness  of  his  mind  and  the  good  temper 
of  Melville ;  and  then  he  turned  upon  him  again  with 
redoubled  fury.  .  .  .  Never  has  it  fallen  to  my  lot  to 
hear  such  words  before  in  publick  or  in  private  used 
by  man  to  man." 


34  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  II. 

"April  13,  1805. 

".  .  .  We  have  had  indeed  most  famous  sport  with 
this  same  Leviathan,  Lord  Melville.  His  tumbling  so 
soon  was  as  unexpected  by  all  of  us  as  it  was  by  him- 
self or  you.  It  was  clear  from  the  first  that  he  was 
ruined  sooner  or  later,  but  no  one  anticipated  his 
defeat  upon  the  first  Attack,  and  supported  as  he  was 
by  the  Addingtons  as  well  as  Pitts,  and  with  the 
nostrum  held  out,  too,  of  further  enquiry  by  a  secret 
Committee.  The  history  of  that  celebrated  night 
presents  a  wide  field  of  attack  upon  Pitt  under  all 
the  infinite  difficulties  of  his  situation ;  a  clamour  for 
reform  in  the  expenditure  of  the  publick  money  is  at 
last  found  to  be  the  touchstone  of  the  House  of 
Commons  and  of  the  publick.  .  .  .  Grey  is  to  give 
notice  immediately  when  we  meet  to  bring  in  a  bill 
appointing  Commissioners  to  examine  into  abuses  in 
the  Army,  in  the  Barracks — the  Ordnance — the  Com- 
missariat Departments.  This  plan,  if  it  is  worth  any- 
thing .  .  .  must  place  Pitt  in  the  cursedest  dilemma 
possible.  Can  he  refuse  enquiry  when  it  is  so  loudly 
called  for?  or,  if  he  grants  it,  what  must  become  of 
the  Duke  of  York  and  the  Greenwoods  and  Hammers- 
leys  and  Delaneys,  &c.,  &c.,  &c.,  whose  tricks  with 
money  in  these  departments  would  whitewash  those  of 
Trotter  by  comparison.  ...  I  have  no  hesitation  in 
saying  that  Pitt  must  be  more  than  man  to  stand  it. 
.  .  .  You  can  form  no  notion  of  his  fallen  crest  in  the 
House  of  Commons — of  his  dolorous,  distracted  air. 
He  betrayed  Melville  only  to  save  himself,  and  so  the 
Dundas's  think  and  say.  His  own  ruin  must  come 
next,  and  that,  I  think,  at  no  great  distance.  You 
may  have  perceived  I  have  not  deserted  from  my 
enquiries  into  less  important  jobs,  although  old 
Fordyce  *  got  such  assistance  from  Fox.  The  latter, 
I  have  reason  to  believe,  repents  most  cursedly  of 
that  business.  Grey  and  Whitbread  have  acted  with 
unparalleled  kindness  to  me.  I  mean  to  have  another 
touch  at  Fordyce  when  we  meet  again.  ...  At  our 

*  John  Fordyce,  Esq.,  of  Ayton,  Berwickshire,  Receiver-General 
of  Land  Tax  in  Scotland.  Pie  married  Miss  Catherine  Maxwell  of 
Monreith,  sister  of  Jane,  Duchess  of  Gordon. 


i8o5.]  THE   CAMPAIGN    AGAINST  JOBS.  35 

first  dinner  after  my  motion  about  Fordyce,  about 
three  days  after,  there  were,  I  daresay,  fifty  or  sixty 
people,  Fox  in  the  chair.  I  was  sulky  and  getting 
pretty  drunk,  when  Fox  call'd  upon  me  for  a  toast — 
a  publick  man  —  and  so  I  gave  'Fordyce.'  This 
brought  on  a  jaw,  during  which  I  got  more  and  more 
drunk,  but  never  departed  from  my  creed  that  I  was 
a  betrayed  man.  However,  say  nothing  of  this,  I  beg. 
With  reference  to  my  own  interest,  I  am  sure  I  have 
been  a  gainer  by  all  this." 

"  London,  May  li,  1805. 

"  Upon  my  soul  I  don't  know  what  to  say  for 
myself  in  vindication  of  my  apparently  abominable 
neglect  of  you ;  but  these  are  really  tempestuous 
times,  and  I  bother  myself  with  too  many  things  and 
too  many  thoughts,  and  I  get  irritable,  and  I  believe 
I  eat  and  drink  too  much.  The  upshot  of  the  thing- 
is,  that  day  after  day  passes  and  my  intentions  to 
write  to  you,  and  to  do  other  good  things,  pass  too. 

"Our  campaign  for  the  last  six  weeks  has  been  a 
marvellous  one.  .  .  .  The  country  has  surprised  me 
as  much  as  the  votes  of  the  8th  and  loth,  and  these 
meetings  and  resolutions  have  brought  us  safe  into 
port,  as  far,  at  least,  as  relates  to  Melville.  Pitt,  too, 
is  greatly,  if  not  irreparably  damaged  by  Melville's 
defeat  and  by  certain  irregularities  of  his  own.  Whit- 
bread's  select  committee  has  done  great  additional 
injury  to  Melville,  and  has  got  sufficient  matter  estab- 
lished for  a  resolution  against  Pitt.  The  latter  has 
confessed  that  he  lent  ;^40,ooo  to  Boyd,  Benfield  and 
Co.  out  of  money  voted  for  Navy  services,  in  order 
to  enable  them  to  make  good  their  instalments  upon 
Omnium.  He  has  admitted,  too,  that  he  advanced 
them  ;^ioo,ooo  in  order  to  enable  them  to  make  a 
purchase  for  Government,  at  a  time  that  he  was 
informed  by  the  Bank  of  their  approaching  ruin.  A 
great  part  of  that  sum  is  now  a  debt  to  Government 
in  consequence  of  their  bankruptcy.  This  is  a  damned 
unpopular  business — to  advance  publick  money  to 
two  members  of  Parliament,  who  are  bankrupts,  too. 
It  is  a  damned  thing,  too,  for  the  friends  and  admirers 
of  this    once    great   man,   to   see    him    sent    for    by 


36  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Cii.  II. 

Whitbread,  and  to  hear  him  examined  for  anything  like 
money  irregularities.  He  is,  I  am  certain,  infinitely 
injured  in  the  estimation  of  the  House  of  Commons ; 
and  then  think  of  his  situation  in  other  respects — his. 
right  hand,  Melville,  lopped  off — a  superannuated 
Methodist  at  the  head  of  the  Admiralty,  in  order  to 
catch  the  votes  of  Wilberforce  and  Co.  now  and  then 
— all  the  fleets  of  France  and  Spain  in  motion — the 
finances  at  their  utmost  stretch — not  an  official  person 
but  Huskisson  and  Rose  to  do  anything  at  their 
respective  offices — publick  business  multiplied  by 
opposition  beyond  all  former  example — and  himself 
more  averse  to  business  daily — disunited  vv^ith  Adding- 
ton — having  quite  lost  his  own  character  and  with  a 
King  perfectly  mad  and  involving  his  ministry  in  the 
damnedest  scrapes  upon  the  subject  of  expense.  .  .  . 
I  know  Pitt's  friends  think  he  can't  go  on,  and  they  all 
wish  him  not  to  try  it.  You  may  guess  how  the 
matter  is  when  I  tell  you  that  Abercromby,  the 
member  for  Edinburgh,  and  Hope,  the  member  for 
your  county,  have  struck  and  fled,  declaring  they 
won't  support  Pitt  any  longer,  whom  they  both 
pronounce  to  be  a  damned  rascal.  My  authority  is 
James  Abercomby,*  and  I  will  answer  for  the  truth  of 
these  facts. 

".  .  .  Bennet  t  has  been  here,  and  is  now  re- 
turned to  Bath.  He  is  most  desirous  to  know  you, 
and  I  promised  I  would  write  to  you  and  mention  him 
by  way  of  introduction.  He  is  most  amiable,  occa- 
sionally most  boring,  but  at  all  times  most  upright 
and  honorable.  Make  him  introduce  you  to  Lord  and 
Lady  Tankerville.  The  former  is  very  fond  of  me  ; 
he  is  a  haughty,  honorable  man — has  lived  at  one  time 
in  the  heart  of  political  leaders — was  the  friend  of 
Lansdowne — has  been  in  office  several  times,  and  is 
now  a  misanthrope,  but  very  communicative  and 
entertaining  when  he  likes  his  man.  His  only  remain- 
ing passion  is  for  clever  men,  of  which  description 
he  considers  himself  as  one,  tho'  certainly  unjustly. 
Lady  Tankerville  has  perhaps  as  much  merit  as  any 

*  Hon.    James    Abercromby  :    Speaker    1835-9  •    created    Lord 
Dunfermline  1839  :  died  1858. 

t  Hon.  H.  G.  Bennet,  M.P.,  2nd  son  of  4th  Earl  of  Tankerville. 


iSoS-]  THE   RADICALS   MAKE  THE   PACE.  37 

woman  in  England*  She  is,  too,  very  clever,  and  has 
great  wit ;  but  she,  like  her  Lord,  is  depress'd  and 
unhappy.  They  compose  together  the  most  striking 
libel  upon  the  blessing  of  Fortune  ;  they  are  rich  much 
beyond  their  desires  or  expenditure,  they  have  the 
most  elevated  rank  of  their  country,  I  know  of  nothing 
to  disturb  their  happiness,  and  they  are  apparently 
the  most  miserable  people  I  ever  saw." 

"Thorndon  [Lord  Petre's],  28th  July,  1805. 

".  .  .  You  must  know  that  I  came  out  of  the  battle 
[of  the  session]  very  sick  of  it  and  of  my  leaders. 
It  appears  to  me  we  had  Pitt  upon  his  very  last  legs, 
and  might  have  destroyed  him  upon  the  spot ;  instead 
of  which,  every  opportunity  for  so  doing  was  either 
lost  or  converted  to  a  contrary  purpose.  Could  the 
most  inveterate  enemy  of  Pitt  have  wished  for  any- 
thing better  than  to^find  him  lending  ^40,000,  appro- 
priated by  law  to  particular  publick  purposes,  to  two 
bankrupt  merchant  members  of  parliament  who  voted 
always  with  him?t  and  could  the  most  pertinacious 
derider  of  Fox's  political  folly  have  dared  to  conceive 
that  Fox  on  such  an  occasion  should  acquit  Pitt  of  all 
corruption,  and  should  add  likewise  this  sentiment 
to  his  opinion,  that  to  have  so  detected  him  in  corrup- 
tion would  have  made  him  (Fox)  the  most  miserable 
of  men  ?  ...  In  short,  between  ourselves,  my  dear 
Doctor,  I  believe  that  Fox  has  no  principle  about 
publick  money,  and  that  he  would  give  it  away,  if  he 
had  the  power,  in  any  way  or  for  any  job  quite  as  dis- 
gusting as  the  worst  of  Pitt's.  It  is  a  painful  con- 
clusion this  to  come  to,  and  dreadfully  diminishes 
one's  parliamentary  amusement.  You  can  have  no 
conception  how  feverish  I  became  about  Fox's  conduct 
during  this  damned  Athol  business.^     I  talked  at  him 

*  She  was  Emma,  daughter  and  co-heiress  ot  Sir  James  Cole- 
brooke,  Bart. 

t  Boyd,  Benfield  and  Co.,  to  whom  Pitt  advanced  the  sum  named 
out  of  money  voted  for  Navy  services.  They  were  Government  agents, 
and  shortly  afterwards  went  bankrupt. 

X  The  3rd  Duke  of  Athol  having  inherited  the  sovereignty  of  the 
Isle  of  Man  through  his  wife,  daughter  and  heiress  of  his  uncle,  the 


428800 


38  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  II. 

in  private,  and  no  doubt  vexed  him  infernally ;  but 
this  you'll  say  is  but  poor  work,  to  be  making  myself 
enemies  in  the  persons  whose  jobs  I  oppose,  and  to 
quarrel  with  my  own  friends  for  not  opposing  the 
jobs  too.  I  must  have  some  discussion  with  my  con- 
science and  my  temper  before  the  next  campaign,  to 
see  whether  I  can't  go  on  a  little  more  smoothly,  and 
without  prejudice  to  my  interest.  ...  I  see  a  great 
deal  of  Windham.  He  has  dined  with  me,  but  my 
opinion  of  him  is  not  at  all  improved  by  my  acquaint- 
ance with  him.  He  is,  at  the  same  time,  decidedly  the 
most  agreeable  and  witty  in  conversation  of  all  these 
great  men.  ..." 

The  following  notes  are  without  date,  but  the 
allusion  to  Tom  Sheridan's  bride  shows  that  they 
belong  to  the  summer  of  1805. 

R.  B.  Sheridan,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Richmond  Hill, 
"  Monday — the  third  day  of  Peace  and  Tranquillity. 

"  My  dear  Creevey, 

"  You  must  make  my  excuse  to  the  Lord 
Mayor.  Pray  vouch  that  you  should  have  brought  me, 
but  my  cold  is  really  so  bad  that  I  should  infallibly 
lay  myself  up  if  I  attempted  to  go.  Here  are  pure 
air,  quiet  and  innocence,  and  everything  that  suits  me. 
"  Pray  let  me  caution  you  not  to  expose  yourself 
to  the  air  after  Dinner,  as  I  find  malicious  people 
disposed  to  attribute  to  wine  what  was  clearly  the 
mere  effect  of  the  atmosphere.  My  last  hour  to  your 
Ladies,  as  I  am  certainly  going  to  die ;  till  when, 
however, 

"  Yours  truly, 

"  R.  B.  S." 

2nd  Duke,  sold  the  same  in  1765  to  the  Government  for  ;^7o,ooo  and 
a  pension  of  £1000  for  their  joint  lives,  but  reserving  their  land  rents. 
The  4th  Duke,  after  two  failures,  succeeded  in  getting  a  bill  through 
Parliament  in  1805,  settling  one-fourth  of  the  customs  of  the  island 
upon  him  and  the  heirs  general  of  James  Stanley,  7th  Earl  of  Derby. 
The  bill  was  vigorously  opposed,  and  Creevey  denounced  it  as  a  jol3. 
The  fourth  of  the  customs  was  subsequently  commuted  for  ;!f  409,000. 


i8os.]  THE   SHERIDANS.  39 

"  Thursday  evening. 

"  My  dear  Creevey, 

"  If  you  don't  leave  town  to-morrow,  come 
and  eat  your  mutton  with  me  in  George  St.  and  meet 
Adam  and  McMahon,  and  more  than  all,  my  Son  and 
Daughter. 

"  Mrs.  Creevey  will  excuse  you  at  my  request,  and 
you  will  be  a  Piece  of  a  Lion  to  have  seen  so  early 
Mrs.  T.  S.,*  whom  I  think  lovely  and  engaging  and 
interesting  beyond  measure,  and,  as  far  as  I  can  judge, 
with  a  most  superior  understanding. 

"  Yours  ever, 

"  R.  B.  S." 

"  Grosvenor  Place,  Saturday  morning. 

"  My  dear  Mrs.  Creevey, 

"  I  left  Hester  about  two  hours  ago :  she 
violently  expects  you.  Remember  we  have  a  bed  for 
you,  a  fishing  rod  for  Creevey  on  Monday  morning. 
If  you  will  stay  over  Monday,  Hester  and  Richmond 
Hill  will  make  you  quite  well,  and  there  are,  not 
cockney,  but  classical  Lions  for  Creevey  to  see.  .  .  ." 

It  is  difficult  in  these  later  days  to  realise  the 
degree  in  which  Royal  personages  were  allowed,  and 
even  expected,  to  interfere  with  politics  and  the  work 
of  Parliament  under  the  Hanoverian  dynasty.  It  is 
notorious  that,  George  HI.  having  evinced  his  deter- 
mination to  have  a  Tory  Cabinet,  the  Heir  Apparent 
chose  his  friends  and  counsellors  from  the  Whig 
Opposition,  trafficking  in  seats  in  Parliament  as  keenly 
as  any  boroughmonger  of  them  all.  Among  others 
whom  he  sought  to  enlist  in  his  Parliamentary  party 

*  Sheridan's  only  son,  Tom  [1775-1817],  married  Caroline 
Henrietta  Callander  in  1805.  She  was  a  celebrated  beauty,  wrote 
three  novels  which  had  some  popularity,  and  was  the  mother  of  four 
sons  and  three  beautiful  daughters — Mrs.  Blackwood,  afterwards  Lady 
Dufferin,  and  lastly,  Countess  of  Gifford  ;  The  Hon.  Mrs.  Norton, 
afterwards  Lady  Stirling-Maxwell  of  Kcir  ;  and  the  youngest,  the 
Duchess  of  Somerset,  Queen  of  Beauty  at  the  Eglinton  Tournament. 


40  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  II. 

was  the  gentle  and  erudite  Samuel  Romilly,  whose 
name  must  ever  be  associated  with  the  unwearying 
efforts  he  made  to  reform  and  mitigate  the  atrociously 
sanguinary  penal  code  of  England.  Measured  by  the 
extent  of  the  immediate  success  of  these  efforts, 
Romilly's  influence  upon  the  statute-book  may  be 
reckoned  trifling,  seeing  that  all  he  was  able  to  effect 
against  Lord  Ellenborough  and  the  House  of  Lords 
was  the  repeal,  in  1812,  of  the  law  which  prescribed 
the  death  penalty  upon  any  soldier  or  mariner  who 
should  presume  to  beg,  without  permission  from  his 
commanding  officer  or  a  magistrate.  Nevertheless 
the  fruits  of  his  life-work  ripened  after  his  untimely 
death  by  his  own  hand  in  1818,  and  although  he  can- 
not be  reckoned  among  the  noisiest  nor  among  the 
most  profusely  munificent  philanthropists,  the  in- 
fluence of  Samuel  Romilly  was  indeed  one  of  the 
most  powerful  and  beneficent  ever  exerted  in  the 
cause  of  humanity 

Samuel  Rotnilly,  K.C.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Little  Ealing,  Sept.  23rd,  1S05. 

"Dear  Creevey, 

"  I  have  just  received  your  letter.  ...  It  has 
indeed  very  much  surprised  me,  and  I  am  afraid  my 
answer  to  it  will  occasion  as  much  surprise  in  you. 
I  cannot  express  to  you  how  much  flattered  I  am  by 
the  honor  which  the  Prince  of  Wales  does  me.  No 
event  in  the  whole  course  of  my  life  has  been  so 
gratifying  to  me.  ...  I  have  formed  no  resolution  to 
keep  out  of  Parliament ;  on  the  contrary,  it  has  long 
been  my  intention  and  is  still  my  wish,  to  obtain 
a  seat  in  the  House,  though  not  immediately.*  If 
I  had   been   a  member   from    the   beginning  of  the 

*  He  was  elected  member  for  Queenborough  in  1806,  on  taking 
office  as  Solicitor-General  in  "All  the  Talents." 


lSo5.]  ROMILLY   DECLINES    PARLIAMENT.  4I 

present  Parliament,  my  vote  would  have  been  uni- 
formly given  in  a  way  which  I  presume  would  have 
been  agreeable  to  the  Prince  of  Wales.  .  .  .  Upon 
all  questions  I  should  have  voted  with  Mr.  Fox ;  and 
yet,  with  all  this,  I  feel  myself  obliged  to  decline  the 
offer  which  his  Royal  Highness  has  the  great  conde- 
scension to  make  me.  .  .  .  When  I  was  a  young  man, 
a  seat  in  Parliament  was  offered  me.  It  was  offered 
in  the  handsomest  manner  imaginable  :  no  condition 
whatever  was  annexed  to  it :  I  was  told  that  I  was 
to  be  quite  independent,  and  was  to  vote  and  act  just 
as  I  thought  proper.  I  could  not,  however,  relieve 
myself  from  the  apprehension  that  .  .  .  the  person  to 
whom  I  owed  the  seat  would  consider  me,  without 
perhaps  being  quite  conscious  of  it  himself,  as  his 
representative  in  Parliament  .  .  .  and  that  I  should 
have  some  other  than  my  own  reason  and  conscience 
to  account  to  for  my  public  conduct.  ...  In  other 
respects,  the  offer  was  to  me  a  most  tempting  one. 
I  had  then  no  professional  business  with  which  it 
would  interfere.  .  .  .  As  a  young  man,  I  was  vain  and 
foolish  enough  to  imagine  that  I  might  distinguish 
myself  as  a  public  speaker.  I  weighed  the  offer  very 
maturely,  and  in  the  end  I  rejected  it.  I  persuaded 
myself  that  (altho'  that  were  not  the  case  with  others) 
it  was  impossible  that  the  little  talents  which  I 
possessed  could  ever  be  exerted  with  any  advantage 
to  the  public,  or  any  credit  to  myself,  unless  I  came 
into  Parliament  quite  independent,  and  answerable  for 
my  conduct  to  God  and  to  my  country  alone.  I  had 
felt  the  temptation  so  strong  that,  in  order  to  fortify 
myself  against  any  others  of  the  same  kind,  I  formed 
to  myself  the  unalterable  resolution  never,  unless  I 
held  a  public  office,  to  come  into  Parliament  but  by 
a  popular  election,  or  by  paying  the  common  price 
for  my  seat.  It  is  true  that,  when  I  formed  this 
resolution,  the  possibility  of  a  seat  being  offered  me 
by  the  Prince  of  Wales  had  never  entered  into  my 
thoughts,  and  that  the  rules  which  I  had  laid  down  to 
regulate  my  conduct  ought  perhaps  to  yield  to  such 
a  circumstance  as  this.  But  yet  I  have  so  long  acted 
on  this  resolution — the  principles  on  which  I  formed 
it  have  become  so  much  a  part  of  the  system  of  my 
life,  and  that  life  is  now  so  far  advanced,  that  I  cannot 


42  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  II. 

convince  myself — proud  as  I  am  of  the  distinction 
which  his  Royal  Highness  is  willing  to  confer  upon 
me,  that  I  ought  to  accept  it.  The  answer  that  I 
should  wish  to  give  to  his  Royal  Highness  is  to 
express  in  the  strongest  terms  my  gratitude  for  the 
offer,  but  in  the  most  respectful  possible  way  to 
decline  it ;  and  at  the  same  time  to  say  that,  if  his 
R.  H.  thinks  that  my  being  in  Parliament  can  be  at 
all  useful  to  the  public,  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  procure 
m^^self  a  seat  the  first  opportunity  that  I  can  find. 
But  the  difficulty  is  to  know  how  to  give  such  an 
answer  with  propriety.  I  am  fearful  that  it  may  be 
thought,  in  every  way  that  it  occurs  to  me  to  convey 
it,  not  sufficiently  respectful  to  his  R.  H.,  and  from 
this  embarrassment  I  know  not  how  to  relieve  myself. 
My  only  recourse  is  to  trust  that  you  will  be  able  to 
do  for  me  what  I  cannot  do  for  myself  .  .  ." 


Lord  Henry  Petty*  to  Mr.  Crccvey. 

"Dublin,  Sept.  15th,  1805. 

"  Dear  Creevey, 

"  I  have  for  some  time  meditated  writing  to 
you,  more,  I  confess,  in  the  hope  of  procuring  an 
answer,  than  with  that  of  being  able  to  communicate 
anything  that  can  interest  you  from  this  country, 
altho'  it  affords  me  a  great  deal  of  amusement  as  a 
traveller, 

"The  town  of  Dublin  is  full  of  fine  buildings,  fine 
streets,  &c.,  but  so  ill  placed  and  imperfectly  finished 
as  to  give  it  the  appearance  of  a  great  piece  of  patch- 
work, made  up  without  skill  and  without  attention. 
The  Custom  House  is,  however,  an  exception,  and  in 
every  respect  a  noble  edifice,  in  which  there  is  no 
fault  to  be  found  except  that  old  Beresford  f  is 
sumptuously  lodged  in  it. 

"  The  Union  is  become  generally  unpopular — more 

*  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  in  "All  the  Talents,"  1806-7,  and 
afterwards  3rd  Marquess  of  Lansdowne. 

t  The  Right  Hon.  John  Beresford  [i 737-1 805],  for  many  years 
chairman  of  the  Revenue  Board  of  Ireland,  greatly  relied  on  by  Pitt 
in  affairs  of  Irish  administration.     He  died  5th  November,  1805. 


i8o5.]  IRISH    AFFAIRS,  43 

SO,  I  think,  than  it  deserves ;  but  the  Irish  pride  is 
wounded  with  the  hauteur  and  neglect  of  the  English 
Govt.  Castlereagh's  defeat  was  received  with  accla- 
mation by  all  classes  here,  and  the  city  would  have 
been  illuminated  if  the  Mayor  had  not  prevented  it, 
giving  rather  awkwardly  as  an  excuse  that  he  did  not 
think  the  occasion  of  sufiicient  magnitude.*  .  .  ." 

"Belfast,  Oct.  24th,  1805. 

"  Many  thanks  for  your  letter,  which  it  would  have 
given  me  pleasure  to  receive  anywhere,  but  par- 
ticularly in  the  remote  district  of  Munster  where  it 
found  me,  meditating  upon  the  means  of  converting 
bogs  into  fields,  rocks  into  quarries,  and  (not  the  least 
difficult  of  metamorphoses)  Irish  peasants  into  efficient 
labourers.  We  have,  at  the  other  extremity  of  the 
island,  got  into  a  more  civilised  region.  Downshire 
is  the  Yorkshire  of  Ireland — the  same  universal 
appearance  of  wealth  and  industry,  and  even  of  neat- 
ness and  comfort,  prevails. 

"The  shops  here  are  full  of  prints  and  songs 
against  Castlereagh,  the  leavings  of  the  election, 
which  has  produced  a  general  effect  throughout 
Ireland.  I  am  far  from  thinking  the  elections  here 
will  be  so  completely  under  the  controll  of  Govt,  as 
many  of  their  adversaries,  as  well  as  friends,  suppose. 
There  is  in  most  counties  a  rising  spirit  of  indepen- 
dence, and  the  weight  of  the  Catholic  interest  will  be 
strongly  felt.  I  have  been  myself  strongly  sollicited 
by  a  number  of  freeholders  of  the  Co.  of  Kerry  to 
offer  myself  at  the  gen.  election,  nor  should  I  have 
the  least  doubt  of  success,  if  I  had  not  other  views, 

*  Viscount  Castlereagh  [1769-1822]  had  been  returned  as  Whig 
member  for  county  Down  in  1790,  the  election  costing  his  father  the 
almost  incredible  sum  of  ;i^6o,ocHD.  He  joined  the  Tories  in  1795, 
became  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland  in  1797,  and  incurred  the  hatred 
of  many  of  his  countr>'men  by  the  ardour  and  success  with  which  he 
forwarded  Pitt's  project  of  the  Union,  by  buying  up  borough-mongers. 
But  he  was  a  strong  advocate  of  Roman  Catholic  emancipation,  and 
retired  with  Pitt  when  George  III.  set  his  veto  upon  the  measure  to 
which  Pitt  was  pledged.  He  took  office  under  Addington  as  President 
of  the  Board  of  Controul  in  1802,  and  lost  his  seat  on  seeking 
re-election  in  1S05  when  he  was  appointed  War  Minister  under  Pitt. 


44  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  II. 

and  could  bring  myself  to  face  the  tumult  of  an  Irish 
contest,  which  would  not  be,  I  think,  the  most  amusing 
of  recreations. 

"What  great  events  are  passing  on  the  Continent. 
It  is  terrible  to  think  that  Pitt  has  so  much  of  the  fate 
of  England  and  of  Europe  in  his  hands.  I  understand 
there  has  been  some  disagreement  with  Russia  in 
consequence  of  the  D.  of  Y.  being  intended  for  the 
command  of  a  combined  army  of  Russians  and  English, 
against  which  the  Court  of  Petersburgh  remonstrated. 
How  disgracefull  to  be  indebted  to  a  foreign  court  for 
teaching  us  commonsense  and  our  own  interest  at 
such  a  crisis  ! " 

At  Christmastide,  1805,  Pitt  received  his  death- 
blow. He  had  staked  the  existence  of  his  country 
and  the  freedom  of  Europe  upon  the  coalition  of 
Austria,  Russia,  and  England  against  Bonaparte  and 
the  destructive  energies  of  France.  But  before  these 
formidable  allies  could  come  into  line,  even  before  the 
British  force  had  embarked  for  Germany,  Napoleon 
swept  through  the  Black  Forest  with  100,000  men. 
The  Austrian  commander  Mack,  posted  on  the  Iller 
from  Ulm  to  Memmingen,  was  surprised,  taken  in 
rear,  and  laid  down  his  arms  on  19th  October, 
Werneck's  corps  having  done  the  like  the  day  before 
to  Murat.  By  the  end  of  the  month  the  Austrian  field 
force  of  80,000  was  no  more.  When  rumours  reached 
Pitt  of  the  capitulation  of  Ulm — "  Don't  believe  it," 
he  exclaimed;  "it  is  all  a  fiction."  Next  day  the 
terrible  news  received  confirmation ;  the  shock  could 
not  be  repaired,  even  by  the  glorious  intelligence 
which  arrived  four  days  later  of  the  destruction  of  the 
French  and  Spanish  fleets  at  Trafalgar.  That,  indeed, 
revived  shattered  hopes  for  the  moment,  but  it  was 
followed  closely  by  the  news  of  Austerlitz,  where  the 
second  partner  in  the  coalition  had  been  crushed  with 


1805.]  tJLM    AND    AUSTERLITZ.  M 

a  loss  of  26,000  men.  Not  only  was  the  coalition  at 
an  end,  but  its  author  passed  quickly  into  the  shadow 
of  death. 


Hojt.  Charles  Grey,  M.P.  {afterwards  2nd  Earl  Grey), 
to  Mr.   Creevey. 

"  Howick,  Dec.  29th,  1S05. 
".  .  .  Your  details,  which  I  had  received  from  no 
other  person,  have  left  no  doubt  upon  my  mind.  Of 
the  delay  of  fresh  intelligence  I  think  nothing.  I 
remember  the  same  thing  happened  after  the  battle 
of  Ulm,  when  the  same  inferences  were  drawn  from 
it,  and  the  opportunity  taken  to  circulate  the  same 
reports  of  the  defeat  of  the  French.  It  seems  Robert 
Ward  sent  to  all  the  newspapers  the  paragraphs  which 
you  wd.  see,  asserting  the  Russian  capitulation  and 
Count  Palfy's  letters  to  be  forgeries ;  and  this,  I  am 
assured,  without  the  least  authority  for  doing  so, 
except  his  own  foolish  belief.  All  this,  I  agree  with 
you,  is  as  much  calculated  to  hurt  Pitt,  when  it  is 
completely  exposed,  as  the  disasters  themselves,  and 
the  folly  of  doing  it  is  inconceivable.  If  the  defeat 
of  the  2nd  *  was  as  calamitous  as  I  believe  it  to  have 
been,  it  is  nonsense  to  talk  any  more  of  Continental 
confederacies.  The  game  is  too  desperate  even  for 
Pitt  himself,  desperate  as  he  is ;  and  the  King  of 
Prussia  certainly  would  not  expose  himself  alone, 
which  in  the  first  instance  he  must  do,  to  all  the  power 
and  vengeance  of  France.  I  am  more  inclined  to  think 
that  they  [Pitt's  Cabinet]  really  do  flatter  themselves 
against  all  evidence  into  a  belief  in  these  renewed 
battles  and  consequent  changes  of  fortune.  There  is 
nothing  too  absurd  for  them  in  a  military  view.  They 
are  naturally  confident  and  sanguine,  and  this  is  their 
last  hope." 

*  At  Austcrlitz. 


(    46 


CHAPTER   III. 

1805. 

The  following  reminiscences  were  written  by  Mr. 
Creevey  in  the  reign  of  William  IV.,  but  as  they 
refer  chiefly  to  his  doings  in  1805,  they  find  their 
proper  sequence  in  this  place.  x\t  the  time  they  were 
written  Mr.  Creevey's  feelings  towards  George  IV. 
had  undergone  a  complete  revulsion;  but  in  1805  he 
was  full  of  enthusiasm  for  the  Heir  Apparent,  upon 
whom  the  hopes  of  the  whole  Whig  party  were  fixed. 

"It  was  in  1804  when  I  first  began  to  take  a  part 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  at  which  time  the  Prince 
of  Wales  was  a  most  warm  and  active  partizan  of 
Mr.  Fox  and  the  Opposition.  It  was  then  that  the 
Prince  began  first  to  notice  me,  and  to  stop  his  horse 
and  talk  with  me  when  he  met  me  in  the  streets;  but 
I  recollect  only  one  occasion,  in  that  or  the  succeed- 
ing year,  that  I  dined  at  Carlton  House,  and  that 
was  with  a  party  of  the  Opposition,  to  whom  he 
gave  various  dinners  during  that  spring.  On  that 
occasion  Lord  Dundas  and  Calcraft  sat  at  the  top 
and  bottom  of  the  table,  the  Prince  in  the  middle  at 
one  side,  with  the  Duke  of  Clarence  next  to  him ; 
Fox,  Sheridan  and  about  30  opposition  members  of 
both  Houses  making  the  whole  party.  We  walked 
about  the  garden  before  dinner  without  our  hats. 

"  The  only  thing  that  made  an  impression  upon 
me  in  favour  of  the  Prince  that  day  (always  except- 
ing his  excellent  manners  and  appearance  of  good 
humour)   was   his   receiving   a    note    during    dinner 


i8o5.]  THE   HEIR   APPARENT.  47 

which  he  flung  across  the  table  to  Fox  and  asked  if 
he  must  not  answer  it,  which  Fox  assented  to ;  and 
then,  without  the  slightest  fuss,  the  Prince  left  his 
place,  went  into  another  room  and  wrote  an  answer, 
which  he  brought  to  Fox  for  his  approval,  and  when 
the  latter  said  it  was  quite  right,  the  Prince  seemed 
delighted,  which  I  thought  very  pretty  in  him,  and  a 
striking  proof  of  Fox's  influence  over  him. 

"  During  dinner  he  was  very  gracious,  funny 
and  agreeable,  but  after  dinner  he  took  to  making 
speeches,  and  was  very  prosy  as  well  as  highly  in- 
judicious. He  made  a  long  harangue  in  favour  of 
the  Catholics  and  took  occasion  to  tell  us  that  his 
brother  William  and  himself  were  the  only  two  of 
his  family  who  were  not  Germans — this  too  in  a 
company  which  was,  most  of  them,  barely  known 
to  him.  Likewise  I  remember  his  halloaing  to  Sir 
Charles  Bamfyld  at  the  other  end  of  the  table,  and 
asking  him  if  he  had  seen  Mother  Windsor*  lately. 
I  brought  Lord  Howickf  and  George  Walpole  home 
at  night  in  my  coach,  and  so  ended  that  day. 

"At  the  beginning  of  September,  1805,  Mrs. 
Creevey  and  myself  with  her  daughters  went  to 
Brighton  to  spend  the  autumn  there,  the  Prince  then 
living  at  the  Pavilion.  I  think  it  was  the  first,  or  at 
furthest  the  second,  day  after  our  arrival,  when  my 
two  eldest  daughters  %  and  myself  were  walking  on 
the  Steyne,  and  the  Prince,  who  was  sitting  talking 
to  old  Lady  Clermont,  having  perceived  me,  left  her 
and  came  up  to  speak  to  me,  when  I  presented  my 
daughters  to  him.  He  was  very  gracious  to  us  all 
and  hoped  he  should  see  me  shortly  at  dinner.  In 
two  or  three  days  from  this  time  I  received  an  invi- 
tation to  dine  at  the  Pavilion.  .  .  .  Mrs.  Fitzherbert, 
whom  I  had  never  been  in  a  room  with  before,  sat 
on  one  side  of  the  Prince,  and  the  Duke  of  Clarence 
on  the  other.  ...  In  the  course  of  the  evening  the 
Prince  took  me  up  to  the  card  table  where  Mrs.  Fitz- 
herbert was  playing,  and  said — '  Mrs.  Fitzherbert,  I 
wish   you   would  call   upon    Mrs,   Creevey,  and   say 

*  A  notorious  procuress  in  King's  Place. 
•{■  Afterwards  Earl  Grey,  the  Prime  Minister. 
X  His  step-daughters,  the  Miss  Ords. 


48  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [C?t.  III. 

from  me  I  shall  be  happy  to  see  her  here.'  Mrs. 
Fitzherbert  did  call  accordingly,  and  altho'  she  and 
Mrs.  Creevey  had  never  seen  each  other  before,  an 
acquaintance  began  that  soon  grew  into  a  very  sin- 
cere and  agreeable  friendship,  which  lasted  the  re- 
mainder of  Mrs.  Creevey's  life.  .  .  . 

".  .  .  Immediately  after  this  first  visit  from  Mrs. 
Fitzherbert,  Mrs.  Creevey  and  her  daughters  became 
invited  with  myself  to  the  Prince's  parties  at  the 
Pavilion,  and  till  the  first  week  in  January — a  space 
of  about  four  months — except  a  few  days  when  the 
Prince  went  to  see  the  King  at  Weymouth,  and  a 
short  time  that  I  was  in  London  in  November,  there 
was  not  a  day  we  were  not  at  the  Pavilion,  I  dining 
there  always  once  or  twice  a  week,  Mrs.  Creevey 
frequently  dining  with  me  likewise,  but  in  the  even- 
ing we  were  always  there. 

"  During  these  four  months  the  Prince  behaved 
with  the  greatest  good  humour  as  well  as  kindness  to 
us  all.  He  was  always  merry  and  full  of  his  jokes, 
and  any  one  would  have  said  he  was  really  a  very 
happy  man.  Indeed  I  have  heard  him  say  repeatedly 
during  that  time  that  he  never  should  be  so  happy 
when  King,  as  he  was  then. 

"  I  suppose  the  Courts  or  houses  of  Princes  are 
all  alike  in  one  thing,  viz.,  that  in  attending  them  you 
lose  your  liberty.  After  one  month  was  gone  by, 
you  fell  naturally  and  of  course  into  the  ranks,  and 
had  to  reserve  your  observations  till  you  were  asked 
for  them.  These  royal  invitations  are  by  no  means 
calculated  to  reconcile  one  to  a  Court.  To  be  sent  for 
half  an  hour  before  dinner,  or  perhaps  in  the  middle 
of  one's  own,  was  a  little  too  humiliating  to  be  very 
agreeable. 

".  .  .  Lord  Hutchinson  *  was  a  great  feature  at 
the  Pavilion.  He  lived  in  the  house,  or  rather  the 
one  adjoining  it,  and  within  the  grounds.  .  .  .  As  a 
military  man  he  was  a  great  resource  at  that  time, 
as  we  were  in  the  midst  of  expectations  about  the 

*  Brother  of  the  1st  Earl  of  Donoughmore ;  a  general  oflicer, 
succeeded  Sir  Ralph  Abercromby  in  command  of  the  army  in  Egypt, 
and  was  raised  to  the  peerage  in  1801,  with  a  pension  of  ^2000.  Died 
in  1832. 


i8os.]  LIFE  AT  THE   PAVILION.  49 

Austrians  and  Buonaparte,  and  the  battle  which  we 
all  knew  would  so  soon  take  place  between  them.  It 
was  a  funny  thing  to  hear  the  Prince,  when  the  battle 
had  taken  place,  express  the  same  opinion  as  was 
given  in  the  London  Government  newspapers,  that  it 
was  all  over  with  the  French — that  they  were  all  sent 
to  the  devil,  and  the  Lord  knows  what.  Maps  were 
got  out  to  satisfy  everybody  as  to  the  precise  ground 
where  the  battle  had  been  fought  and  the  route  by 
which  the  French  had  retreated.  While  these  opera- 
tions were  going  on  in  one  window  of  the  Pavilion, 
Lord  Hutchinson  took  me  privately  to  another,  when 
he  put  into  my  hand  his  own  private  dispatch  from 
Gordon,  then  Secretary  to  the  Commander-in-Chief, 
giving  him  the  true  account  of  the  battle  of  Auster- 
litz,  with  the  complete  victory  of  the  French.  This 
news,  unaccountable  as  it  may  appear,  was  repeated 
day  after  day  at  the  Pavilion  for  nearly  a  week ;  and 
when  the  truth  began  at  last  to  make  its  appearance 
in  the  newspapers,  the  Prince  puts  them  all  in  his 
pockets,  so  that  no  paper  was  forthcoming  at  the 
Pavilion,  instead  of  half-a-dozen,  the  usual  number. 
.  .  .  We  used  to  dine  pretty  punctually  at  six,  the 
average  number  being  about  sixteen.  .  .  .  Mrs.  Fitz- 
herbert  always  dined  there,  and  mostly  one  other 
lady — Lady  Downshire  very  often,  sometimes  Lady 
Clare  or  Lady  Berkeley  or  Mrs.  Creevey.  Mrs.  Fitz- 
herbert  was  a  great  card-player,  and  played  every 
night.  The  Prince  never  touched  a  card,  but  was 
occupied  in  talking  to  his  guests,  and  very  much  in 
listening  to  and  giving  directions  to  the  band.  At 
12  o'clock  punctually  the  band  stopped,  and  sand- 
wiches and  wine  and  water  handed  about,  and  shortly 
after  the  Prince  made  a  bow  and  we  all  dispersed. 

"  I  had  heard  a  great  deal  of  the  Prince's  drinking, 
but,  during  the  time  that  I  speak  of,  I  never  saw  him 
the  least  drunk  but  once,  and  I  was  myself  pretty 
much  the  occasion  of  it.  We  were  dining  at  the 
Pavilion,  and  poor  Fonblanque,  a  dolorous  fop  of  a 
lawyer,  and  a  member  of  Parliament  too,  was  one  of 
the  guests.  After  drinking  some  wine,  I  could  not 
resist  having  some  jokes  at  Fonblanquc's  expense, 
which  the  Prince  encouraged  greatly.  I  went  on 
and  invented  stories  about  speeches  Fonblanque  had 

E 


50  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  III. 

made  in  Parliament,  which  were  so  pathetic  as  to 
have  affected  his  audience  to  tears,  all  of  which  in- 
ventions of  mine  Fonblanque  denied  to  be  true  with 
such  overpowering  gravity  that  the  Prince  said  he 
should  die  of  it  if  I  did  not  stop.  ...  In  the  evening, 
at  about  ten  or  eleven  o'clock,  he  said  he  would  go  to 
the  ball  at  the  Castle,  and  said  I  should  go  with  him. 
So  I  went  in  his  coach,  and  he  entered  the  room  with 
his  arm  through  mine,  everybody  standing  and  getting 
upon  benches  to  see  him.  He  was  certainly  tipsey, 
and  so,  of  course,  was  I,  but  not  much,  for  I  well  re- 
member his  taking  me  up  to  Mrs.  Creevey  and  her 
daughters,  and  telling  them  he  had  never  spent  a 
pleasanter  day  in  his  life,  and  that  '  Creevey  had  been 
very  great.'  He  used  to  drink  a  great  quantity  of 
wine  at  dinner,  and  was  very  fond  of  making  any 
newcomer  drunk  by  drinking  wine  with  him  very 
frequently,  always  recommending  his  strongest  wines, 
and  at  last  some  remarkably  strong  old  brandy  which 
he  called  Diabolino. 

"  It  used  to  be  the  Duke  of  Norfolk's  custom  to 
come  over  every  year  from  Arundel  to  pay  his 
respects  to  the  Prince  and  to  stay  two  days  at 
Brighton,  both  of  which  he  always  dined  at  the 
Pavilion.  In  the  year  1804,  upon  this  annual  visit, 
the  Prince  had  drunk  so  much  as  to  be  made  very 
seriously  ill  by  it,  so  that  in  1805  (the  year  that  I  was 
there)  when  the  Duke  came,  Mrs.  Fitzherbert,  who 
was  always  the  Prince's  best  friend,  was  very  much 
afraid  of  his  being  again  made  ill,  and  she  persuaded 
the  Prince  to  adopt  different  stratagems  to  avoid 
drinking  with  the  Duke.  I  dined  there  on  both  days, 
and  letters  were  brought  in  each  day  after  dinner  to 
the  Prince,  which  he  affected  to  consider  of  great  im- 
portance, and  so  went  out  to  answer  them,  while  the 
Duke  of  Clarence  went  on  drinking  with  the  Duke 
of  Norfolk.  But  on  the  second  day  this  joke  was 
carried  too  far,  and  in  the  evening  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk  showed  he  was  affronted.  The  Prince  took 
me  aside  and  said — 'Stay  after  everyone  is  gone  to- 
night. The  Jockey's  got  sulky,  and  I  must  give  him 
a  broiled  bone  to  get  him  in  good  humour  again.' ^  So 
of  course  I  sta3^ed,  and  about  one  o'clock  the  Prince 
of  Wales  and  Duke  of  Clarence,  the  Duke  of  Norfolk 


MKs.  !■  I  1  /I  ii'.kr.i.k  I . 


[To  face  p.  50. 


i8o5.]  SHERIDAN.  5 1 

and  myself  sat  down  to  a  supper  of  broiled  bones,  the 
result  of  which  was  that,  having  fallen  asleep  myself, 
I  was  awoke  by  the  sound  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk's 
snoring.  I  found  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  the  Duke 
of  Clarence  in  a  very  animated  discussion  as  to  the 
particular  shape  and  make  of  the  wig  worn  by 
George  II. 

"Among  other  visitors  to  the  Pavilion  came 
Sheridan,  with  whom  I  was  then  pretty  intimate, 
though  perhaps  not  so  much  so  as  afterwards.  I 
was  curious  to  see  him  and  the  Prince  daily  in  this 
way,  considering  the  very  great  intimacy  there  had 
been  between  them  for  so  many  years.  Nothing, 
certainly,  could  be  more  creditable  to  both  parties 
than  their  conduct.  I  never  saw  Sheridan  during  the 
period  of  three  weeks  (I  think  it  was)  take  the  least 
more  liberty  in  the  Prince's  presence  than  if  it  had 
been  the  first  day  he  had  ever  seen  him.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Prince  always  showed  by  his  manner 
that  he  thought  Sheridan  a  man  that  any  prince 
might  be  proud  of  as  his  friend. 

"  So  much  for  manners ;  but  I  was  witness  to  a 
kind  of  altercation  between  them  in  which  Sheridan 
could  make  no  impression  on  the  Prince.  The  latter 
had  just  given  Sheridan  the  office  of  Auditor  of  the 
Duchy  of  Cornwall,  worth  about  i^i2oo  per  annum, 
and  Sheridan  was  most  anxious  that  the  Prince 
should  transfer  the  appointment  to  his  son,  Tom 
Sheridan,  who  was  just  then  married.  What  Sheri- 
dan's object  in  this  was,  cannot  be  exactly  made  out  ; 
whether  it  really  was  affection  for  Tom,  or  whether 
it  was  to  keep  the  profit  of  the  office  out  of  the  reach 
of  his  creditors,  or  whether  it  was  to  have  a  young 
life  in  the  patent  instead  of  his  own.  Whichever  of 
these  objects  he  had  in  view,  he  pursued  it  with  the 
greatest  vehemence  ;  so  much  so,  that  I  saw  him  cry 
bitterly  one  night  in  making  his  supplication  to  the 
Prince.  The  latter,  however,  was  not  to  be  shaken 
.  .  .  he  resisted  the  demand  upon  the  sole  ground 
that  Sheridan's  reputation  was  such,  that  it  made  it 
not  only  justifiable,  but  most  honourable  to  him,  the 
Prince,  to  make  such  a  selection  for  the  office.  .  .  . 

"  This     reminds     me     of    another     circumstance 
relating    to    the    same    office    when    in    Sheridan's 


52  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  III. 

possession.  In  the  year  1810,  Mrs.  Creevey,  her 
daughters  and  myself  were  spending  our  summer  at 
Richmond.  Sheridan  and  his  wife  (who  was  a  rela- 
tion and  particular  friend  of  Mrs.  Creevey's)  came 
down  to  dine  and  stay  all  night  with  us.  There  being 
no  other  person  present  after  dinner,  when  the  ladies 
had  left  the  room,  Sheridan  said  : — 

"'A  damned  odd  thing  happened  to  me  this 
morning,  and  Hester  [Mrs.  Sheridan]  and  I  have 
agreed  in  coming  down  here  to-day  that  no  human 
being  shall  ever  know  of  it  as  long  as  we  live  ;  so 
that  nothing  but  my  firm  conviction  that  Hester  is  at 
this  moment  telling  it  to  Mrs.  Creevey  could  induce 
me  to  tell  it  to  you.' 

"Then  he  said  that  the  money  belonging  to  this 
office  of  his  in  the  Duchy  being  always  paid  into 
Biddulph's  or  Cox's  bank  (I  think  it  was)  at  Charing 
Cross,  it  was  his  habit  to  look  in  there.  There  was 
one  particular  clerk  who  seemed  always  so  fond  of 
him,  and  so  proud  of  his  acquaintance,  that  he  every 
now  and  then  cajoled  him  into  advancing  him  ;^io  or 
;i^20  more  than  his  account  entitled  him  to.  .  .  .  That 
morning  he  thought  his  friend  looked  particularly 
smiling  upon  him,  so  he  said  : — 

"*I  looked  in  to  see  if  you  could  let  me  have  ten 
pounds.' 

'"Ten  pounds!'  replied  the  clerk;  'to  be  sure  I 
can,  Mr.  Sheridan.  You've  got  my  letter,  sir,  have 
you  not  ?' 

" '  No,'  said  Sheridan,  '  what  letter  ? ' 

"  It  is  literally  true  that  at  this  time  and  for  many, 
many  years  Sheridan  never  got  twopenny-post  letters,* 
because  there  was  no  money  to  pay  for  them,  and  the 
postman  would  not  leave  them  without  payment. 

'"Why,  don't  you  know  what  has  happened,  sir?' 
asked  the  clerk.  'There  is  ;^I300  paid  into  your 
account.  There  has  been  a  very  great  fine  paid  for 
one  of  the  Duchy  estates,  and  this  ;i^i300  is  your  per- 
centage as  auditor.' 

*  The  charge  at  this  time  for  letters  sent  and  delivered  within  the 
metropolitan  district  was  only  2d.,  payable  by  the  recipient  j  but 
country  letters  were  charged  from  \od.  to  is.  6d.  and  more,  according 
to  distance. 


i8o5.]  SHERIDAN.  53 

"Sheridan  was,  of  course,  very  much  set  up  with 
this  ^1300,  and,  on  the  very  next  day  upon  leaving  us, 
he  took  a  house  at  Barnes  Terrace,  where  he  spent 
all  his  ;^i300.  At  the  end  of  two  or  three  months  at 
most,  the  tradespeople  would  no  longer  supply  him 
without  being  paid,  so  he  was  obliged  to  remove. 
What  made  this  folly  the  more  striking  was  that 
Sheridan  had  occupied  five  or  six  different  houses  in 
this  neighbourhood  at  different  periods  of  his  life,  and 
on  each  occasion  had  been  driven  away  literally  by 
non-payment  of  his  bills  and  consequent  want  of  food 
for  the  house.  Yet  he  was  as  full  of  his  fun  during 
these  two  months  as  ever  he  could  be — gave  dinners 
perpetually  and  was  always  on  the  road  between 
Barnes  and  London,  or  Barnes  and  Oatlands  (the 
Duke  of  York's),  in  a  large  job  coach  upon  which 
he  would  have  his  family  arms  painted.  .  .  . 

".  .  .  As  I  may  not  have  another  opportunity  of 
committing  to  paper  what  little  I  have  of  perfect 
recollection  of  what  Sheridan  told  me  in  our  walks  at 
Brighton  respecting  his  early  life,  and  as  he  certainly 
was  a  very  extraordinary  man,  I  may  as  well  insert 
it  here. 

"  He  was  at  school  at  Harrow,  and,  as  he  told  me, 
never  had  any  scholastic  fame  while  he  was  there, 
nor  did  he  appear  to  have  formed  any  friendships 
there.  He  said  he  was  a  very  low-spirited  boy,  much 
given  to  crying  when  alone,  and  he  attributed  this  very 
much  to  being  neglected  by  his  father,  to  his  being 
left  without  money,  and  often  not  taken  home  at  the 
regular  holidays.  From  Harrow  he  went  to  live  in 
John  Street,  out  of  Soho  Square,  whether  with  his 
father  or  some  other  instructor,  I  forget,  but  he  dwelt 
upon  the  two  years  he  spent  there  as  those  in  which 
he  acquired  all  the  reading  and  learning  he  had  upon 
any  subject. 

"At  the  end  of  this  time  his  father  determined  to 
open  a  kind  of  academy  at  Bath — the  masters  or  in- 
structors to  be  Sheridan  the  father,  his  eldest  son 
Charles,  and  our  Sheridan,  who  was  to  be  rhetorical 
usher.  According  to  his  account,  however,  the  whole 
concern  was  presently  laughed  off  the  stage,  and  then 
Sheridan  described  his  happiness  as  beginning.  He 
danced  with  all  the  women  at  Bath,  wrote  sonnets 


54  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  III. 

and  verses  in  praise  of  some,  satires  and  lampoons 
upon  others,  and  in  a  very  short  time  became  the 
established  wit  and  fashion  of  the  place. 

"  It  was  at  this  period  of  his  life  he  fell  in  love 
with  Miss  Lindley,  whom  he  afterwards  married,  but 
she  was  carried  off  by  her  father  at  that  time  to  a 
convent  in  France,  to  be  kept  out  of  his  way.  Then 
it  was  he  became  embroiled  with  Mr.  Mathews,  who 
was  likewise  a  lover  of  Miss  Lindley,  as  well  as  her 
libeller.  Sheridan  fought  two  duels  with  Mr.  Mathews 
upon  this  subject,  both  times  with  swords.  The  first 
was  in  some  hotel  or  tavern  in  Henrietta  St.,  Covent 
Garden,  when  Mathews  was  disarmed  and  begged  his 
life.  Upon  Mr,  Mathew's  return  to  Bath,  Sheridan 
used  his  triumph  with  so  little  moderation,  that  Mr. 
Mathews  left  Bath  to  live  in  Wales;  but  soon  he  was 
induced  to  believe  that  he  had  compromised  his 
honour  by  quitting  Bath  and  leaving  his  reputation  at 
the  mercy  of  Sheridan.  Accordingly,  a  messenger 
arrived  from  him  to  Sheridan,  with  a  written  certifi- 
cate in  favour  of  Mathews's  undoubted  honour  in  the 
former  affair,  to  be  signed  by  Sheridan,  or  else  the 
messenger  was  to  deliver  him  a  second  challenge. 

"  Sheridan  preferred  the  latter  course  of  proceed- 
ing, and  the  duel  was  fought  at  King's  Weston  (if  I 
recollect  right).  According  to  Sheridan's  account, 
never  was  anything  so  desperate.  Sheridan's  sword 
broke  in  a  point  blank  thrust  into  Mathews's  chest ; 
upon  this  he  closed,  and  they  both  fell,  Mathews 
uppermost ;  but,  in  falling,  his  sword  broke  likewise, 
sticking  into  the  earth  and  snapping.  However,  he 
drew  the  sharp  end  out  of  the  ground,  and  with  this 
he  stabbed  Sheridan  in  the  face  and  body,  over  and 
over  again,  till  it  was  thought  he  must  die.  Sheridan 
named  both  the  seconds,  but  I  forget  them.  He  said 
they  were  both  cut  for  ever  afterwards  for  not  inter- 
fering. He  said,  likewise,  there  was  a  regular  pro- 
ceeding before  the  Mayor  of  Bristol,  on  the  ground 
that  Mr.  Mathews  had  worn  some  kind  of  armour  to 
protect  him,  which  broke  Sheridan's  sword.  .  .  .  Sheri- 
dan was  taken  to  some  hotel  at  Bath,  where  his  life 
for  some  time  was  despaired  of,  but ...  he  rallied  and 
recovered. 

"  He  then  lived  for  some  time  at  Waltham  Cross, 


i8os.]  SHERIDAN'S    MARRIAGE.  55 

and  was  in  bad  health,  but  used  to  steal  up  to  town  to 
see  and  hear  Miss  Lindley  in  publick,  though  he  was 
under  an  engagement  with  her  family  not  to  pursue 
her  any  more  in  private.  At  length,  however,  they 
met,  and  eventually  were  married.  Miss  Lindley's 
reputation  at  this  time  was  so  great,  that  her  engage- 
ments for  the  year  were  ;^5ooo.  This  resource,  how- 
ever, Sheridan  would  not  listen  to  her  receiving  any 
longer,  altho'  he  himself  had  not  a  single  farthing. 
He  said  she  might  sing  to  oblige  the  King  or  Queen, 
but  to  receive  money  while  she  was  his  wife  was  quite 
out  of  the  question.  Upon  which  old  Lindley,  her 
father,  said  this  might  do  very  well  for  him — Mr.  Sheri- 
dan— iDut  that  for  him — Mr.  Lindley — it  was  a  very 
hard  case ;  that  his  daughter  had  always  been  a  very 
good  daughter  to  him,  and  very  generous  to  him  out 
of  the  funds  she  gained  by  her  profession,  and  that 
it  was  very  hard  upon  him  to  be  cut  off  all  at  once 
from  this  supply.  This  objection  was  disposed  of  by 
Sheridan  in  the  following  manner. 

"Miss  Lindley  had  ;^3000  of  her  own,  of  which 
Sheridan  gave  her  father  ;^2000.  With  the  remaining 
;^iooo,  the  only  fortune  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sheridan  began 
the  world  with,  he  took  a  cottage  at  Slough,  where 
they  lived,  he  said,  most  happily,  a  gig  and  horse 
being  their  principal  luxury,  with  a  man  to  look  after 
both  the  master  and  his  horse.  But  by  the  end,  or 
before  the  end,  of  the  year,  the  ^looo  was  drawing 
rapidly  to  a  finish,  and  then  it  was  that  Sheridan 
thought  of  play-writing  as  a  pecuniary  resource,  and 
he  wrote  The  Rivals.  Having  got  an  introduction  to 
the  theatre,  he  took  his  play  there,  and  finally  was 
present  to  see  it  acted,  but  would  not  let  Mrs.  Sheri- 
dan come  up  from  Slough  for  the  same  purpose.  The 
Rivals,  upon  its  first  performance,  was  damned ;  when 
Sheridan  got  to  Slough  and  told  his  wife  of  it  she  said  : 

'' '  My  dear  Dick,  I  am  delighted.  I  always  knew 
it  was  impossible  you  could  make  anything  by  writing 
plays  ;  so  now  there  is  nothing  for  it  but  my  begin- 
ning to  sing  publickly  again,  and  we  shall  have  as 
much  money  as  we  like.' 

"'No,'  said  Sheridan,  'that  shall  never  be.  I  see 
where  the  fault  was ;  the  play  was  too  long,  and  the 
parts  were  badly  cast' 


56  _        THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  III. 

"  So  he  altered  and  curtailed  the  play,  and  had 
address  or  interest  enough  to  get  the  parts  newly  cast. 
At  the  expiration  of  six  weeks  it  was  acted  again,  and 
with  unbounded  applause.  His  fame  as  a  dramatick 
writer  was  settled  from  that  time.  When  it  was  he 
became  proprietor  of  Drury  Lane  Theatre,  or  how  it 
was  accomplished,  I  did  not  learn  from  him,  but  it  was 
the  only  property  he  ever  possessed,  and,  with  the 
commonest  discretion  on  his  part,  would  have  made 
him  a  most  afQuent  man. 

"Sheridan's  talents,  displayed  in  his  plays,  pro- 
cured him  very  shortly  both  male  and/cma/e  admirers 
among  the  higher  orders.  The  families  of  Lord 
Coventry  and  Lord  Harrington  he  spoke  of  as  his  first 
patrons.  When  it  was  he  begun  with  politicks,  I 
don't  recollect,  but  he  was  a  great  parliamentary  re- 
former the  latter  end  of  the  American  war,  and  one  of 
a  committee  of  either  five  or  seven  (I  forget  which 
number)  who  used  to  sit  regularly  at  the  Mansion 
House  upon  this  subject. 

"  In  1780,  the  year  of  a  general  election,  his  object 
was  to  get  into  Parliament  if  possible,  and  he  was 
going  to  make  a  trial  at  Wootton-Bassett.  The  night 
before  he  set  out,  being  at  Devonshire  House  and 
everybody  talking  about  the  general  election.  Lady 
Cork  *  asked  Sheridan  about  Iris  plans,  which  led  to 
her  saying  that  she  had  often  heard  her  brother 
Monckton  say  he  thought  an  opposition  man  might 
come  in  for  Stafford,  and  that  if,  in  the  event  of  Sheri- 
dan failing  at  Wootton,  he  liked  to  try  his  chance  at 
Stafford,  she  would  give  him  a  letter  of  introduction 
to  her  brother. 

"  This  was  immediately  done.  Sheridan  went  to 
Wootton-Bassett,  where  he  had  not  a  chance.  Then 
he  went  to  Stafford,  produced  Lady  Cork's  letter, 
offered  himself  as  a  candidate,  and  was  elected.  For 
Stafford  he  was  member  till  1806 — six-and-twenty 
years.  I  remember  asking  him  if  he  could  fix  upon 
any  one  point  of  time  in  his  life  that  was  decidedly 
happier  than  all  the  rest,  and  he  said  certainly — it  was 
after  dinner  the  day  of  this  first  election  for  Stafford, 

*  Second  wife  of  the  7th  Earl,  youngest  daughter  of  the  ist  Vis- 
count Galway. 


i8o5.]  FROLICS   AT   BRIGHTON.  57 

when  he  stole  away  by  himself  to  speculate  upon 
those  prospects  of  distinguishing  himself  which  had 
been  opened  to  him. 

"  I  did  not  hear  any  further  of  his  own  history 
from  himself  than  this  first  getting  into  parliament. 
It  has  been  a  constant  subject  of  regret  to  me  that 
I  did  not  put  down  at  the  time  all  he  told  me,  be- 
cause it  was  much  more  than  I  have  stated  ;  but  I 
feel  confident  my  memory  is  correct  in  what  I  have 
written. 

"To  return  to  Sheridan  at  Brighton  in  the  year 
1805.  His  point  of  difference  with  the  Prince  being 
at  an  end,  Sheridan  entered  into  whatever  fun  was 
going  on  at  the  Pavilion  as  if  he  had  been  a  boy,  tho' 
he  was  then  55  years  of  age.  Upon  one  occasion  he 
came  into  the  drawing-room  disguised  as  a  police 
officer  to  take  up  the  Dowager  Lady  Sefton  *  for 
playing  at  some  unlawful  game;  and  at  another  time, 
when  we  had  a  phantasmagoria  at  the  Pavilion,  and 
were  all  shut  up  in  perfect  darkness,  he  continued  to 
seat  himself  upon  the  lap  of  Madame  Gerobtzoff  [?],  a 
haughty  Russian  dame,  who  made  row  enough  for 
the  whole  town  to  hear  her. 

"The  Prince,  of  course,  was  delighted  with  all 
this  ;  but  at  last  Sheridan  made  himself  so  ill  with 
drinking,  that  he  came  to  us  soon  after  breakfast  one 
day,  saying  he  was  in  a  perfect  fever,  desiring  he 
might  have  some  table  beer,  and  declaring  that  he 
would  spend  that  day  with  us,  and  send  his  excuses 
by  Bloomfield  for  not  dining  at  the  Pavilion.  I  felt 
his  pulse,  and  found  it  going  tremendously,  but  in- 
stead of  beer,  we  gave  him  some  hot  white  wine,  of 
which  he  drank  a  bottle,  I  remember,  and  his  pulse 
subsided  almost  instantly.  .  .  .  After  dinner  that  day 
he  must  have  drunk  at  least  a  bottle  and  a  half  of 
wine.  In  the  evening  we  were  all  going  to  the 
Pavilion,  where  there  was  to  be  a  ball,  and  Sheridan 
said  he  would  go  home,  i.e.,  to  the  Pavilion  (where  he 
slept)  and  would  go  quietly  to  bed.  He  desired  me 
to  tell  the  Prince,  if  he  asked  me  after  him,  that  he 
was  far  from  well,  and  was  gone  to  bed. 

*  Isabella,  daughter  of  2nd  Earl  of  Harrington,  and  widow  of  the 
9th  Viscount  and  1st  Earl  of  Sefton. 


58  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  Ill, 

"So  when  supper  was  served  at  the  Pavilion  about 
12  o'clock,  the  Prince  came  up  to  me  and  said  : 

" '  What  the  devil  have  you  done  with  Sheridan 
to-day,  Creevey?  I  know  he  has  been  dining  with  you, 
and  I  have  not  seen  him  the  whole  day.' 

"  I  said  he  was  by  no  means  well  and  had  gone  to 
bed ;  upon  which  the  Prince  laughed  heartily,  as  if  he 
thought  it  all  fudge,  and  then,  taking  a  bottle  of  claret 
and  a  glass,  he  put  them  both  in  my  hands  and  said  : 

"  '  Now  Creevey,  go  to  his  bedside  and  tell  him  I'll 
drink  a  glass  of  wine  with  him,  and  if  he  refuses,  I 
admit  he  must  be  damned  bad  indeed.' 

"  I  would  willingly  have  excused  myself  on  the 
score  of  his  being  really  ill,  but  the  Prince  would  not 
believe  a  word  of  it,  so  go  I  must.  When  I  entered 
Sheridan's  bedroom,  he  was  in  bed,  and,  his  great  fine 
eyes  being  instantly  fixed  upon  me,  he  said  :— 

"  '  Come,  I  see  this  is  some  joke  of  the  Prince,  and 
I  am  not  in  a  state  for  it' 

"  I  excused  myself  as  well  as  I  could,  and  as  he 
would  not  touch  the  wine,  I  returned  without  pressing 
it,  and  the  Prince  seemed  satisfied  he  must  be  ill. 

"About  two  o'clock,  however,  the  supper  having 
been  long  over,  and  everybody  engaged  in  dancing, 
who  should  I  see  standing  at  the  door  but  Sheridan, 
powdered  as  white  as  snow,  as  smartly  dressed  as 
ever  he  could  be  from  top  to  toe.  ...  I  joined  him 
and  expressed  my  infinite  surprise  at  this  freak  of  his. 
He  said  : 

" '  Will  you  go  with  me,  my  dear  fellow,  into  the 
kitchen,  and  let  me  see  if  I  can  find  a  bit  of  supper.' 

"  Having  arrived  there,  he  began  to  play  off  his 
cajolery  upon  the  servants,  saying  if  he  was  the  Prince 
they  should  have  much  better  accommodation,  &c.,  &c., 
so  that  he  was  surrounded  by  supper  of  all  kinds, 
every  one  waiting  upon  him.  He  ate  away  and  drank 
a  bottle  of  claret  in  a  minute,  returned  to  the  ball- 
room, and  when  I  left  it  between  three  and  four  he 
was  dancing. 

"  In  the  beginning  of  November,  as  Sheridan  was 
returning  to  London,  and  I  was  going  there  for  a 
short  time,  he  proposed  our  going  together,  and 
nothing  would  serve  him  but  that  we  must  be  two 
days   on   the   road :   that  nothing  was  so  foolish   as 


i8o5.]  WARREN   HASTINGS.  59 

hurrying  oneself  in  such  short  days,  and  nothing  so 
pleasant  as  living  at  an  inn ;  that  the  Cock  at  Sutton 
was  an  excellent  place  to  dine  and  sleep  at ;  that  he 
himself  was  very  well  known  there,  and  would  write 
and  have  a  nice  little  dinner  ready  for  our  arrival. 

"We  set  off  in  a  job  chaise  of  his,  Edwards  the 
box  keeper  of  Drur}"  Lane  being  on  the  dicky  box, 
for  he  always  acted  as  Sheridan's  valet  when  he  left 
London.  Before  we  had  travelled  many  miles,  having 
knocked  my  foot  against  some  earthenware  vessel  in 
the  chaise,  I  asked  Sheridan  what  it  could  be,  and  he 
replied  he  dared  say  it  was  something  Edwards  was 
taking  to  his  wife.  Arriving  in  the  evening  at  Sutton, 
I  found  there  was  not  a  soul  in  the  house  who  had 
ever  seen  Sheridan  before ;  that  his  letter  had  never 
arrived,  and  that  no  dinner  was  ready  for  us.  I  heard 
him  muttering  on  about  its  being  an  extraordinary 
mistake,  that  his  particular  friend  was  out  of  the  way, 
and  so  forth,  but  that  he  knew  the  house  to  be  an 
excellent  one,  and  no  where  that  you  could  have  a 
nicer  little  dinner.  He  went  fidgetting  in  and  out  of 
the  room,  without  exciting  the  least  suspicion  on  my 
part,  till  dinner  was  announced.  Then  I  found  his 
fun  had  been  to  bring  the  dinner  with  him  from  the 
Pavilion.  The  bowl  I  had  kicked  contained  the  soup, 
and  there  were  the  best  lish,  woodcocks  and  every- 
thing else,  with  claret  and  sherry  and  port  all  from 
the  same  place. 

"Among  other  persons  who  came  to  pay  their 
respects  to  the  Prince  during  the  Autumn  of  1805  was 
Mr,  Hastings,*  whom  I  had  never  seen  before  excepting 
at  his  trial  in  Westminster  Hall.  He  and  Mrs.  Hastings 
came  to  the  Pavilion,  and  I  was  present  when  the  Prince 
introduced  Sheridan  to  him,  which  was  curious,  con- 
sidering that  Sheridan's  parliamentary  fame  had  been 
built  upon  his  celebrated  speech  against  Hastings. 
However,  he  lost  no  time  in  attempting  to  cajole  old 
Hastings,  begging  him  to  believe  that  any  part  he  had 
ever  taken  against  him  was  purely  political,  and  that 
no  one  had  a  greater  respect  for  him  than  himself,  <&c., 
&c.,  upon  which  old  Hastings  said  with  great  gravity 
that  'it  would  be  a  great   consolation   to  him  in  his 

*  Warren  Hastings. 


60  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  III. 

declining  days  if  Mr.  Sheridan  would  make  that 
sentence  more  publick;'  but  Sheridan  was  obliged  to 
mutter  and  get  out  of  such  an  engagement  as  well  as 
he  could. 

"Another  very  curious  person  I  saw  a  great  deal 
of  this  autumn  of  1805,  sometimes  at  the  Pavilion, 
sometimes  at  Mrs.  Clowes's,  was  Lord  Thurlow,  to 
whom  the  Prince  always  behaved  with  the  most 
marked  deference  and  attention.  I  had  never  seen 
him  but  once  before,  and  the  occasion  was  an  extra- 
ordinary one.  Lady  Oxford,  who  then  had  a  house  at 
Ealing  (it  was  in  1801)  had,  by  Lord  Thurlow's  desire, 
I  believe,  at  all  events  with  his  acquiescence,  invited 
Horne-Tooke  to  dinner  to  meet  him.  Lord  Thurlow 
never  had  seen  him  since  he  had  prosecuted  him  when 
Attorney-General  for  a  libel  in  1774  (I  believe  it  was), 
when  the  greatest  bitterness  was  shown  on  both  sides, 
so  that  the  dinner  was  a  meeting  of  great  curiosity  to 
us  who  were  invited  to  it.  Sheridan  was  there  and 
Mrs.  Sheridan,  the  late  Lord  Camelford,  Sir  Francis 
Burdett,  Charles  Warren,  with  several  others  and 
myself.  Tooke  evidently  came  prepared  for  a  display, 
and  as  I  had  met  him  repeatedly,  and  considered  his 
powers  of  conversation  as  surpassing  those  of  any 
person  I  had  ever  seen,  in  point  of  skill  and  dexterity 
(and,  if  at  all  necessary,  in  lying),  I  took  for  granted  old 
grumbling  Thurlow  would  be  obliged  to  lower  his 
topsail  to  him.  But  it  seemed  as  if  the  very  look  and 
voice  of  Thurlow  scared  him  out  of  his  senses,  and 
certainly  nothing  could  be  much  more  formidable. 
So  Tooke  tried  to  recruit  himself  by  wine,  and  tho' 
not  a  drinker,  was  very  drunk.  But  all  would  not  do  ; 
he  was  perpetually  trying  to  distinguish  himself,  and 
Thurlow  constantly  laughing  at  him. 

"In  the  autumn  of  1805,  Thurlow  had  declined 
greatly  in  energy  from  the  time  I  refer  to.  It  was  the 
year  only  before  his  death.  He  used  to  read  or  ride 
out  in  the  morning,  and  his  daughter  Mrs.  Brown,  and 
Mr.  Sneyd,  the  clergyman  of  Brighton,  occupied  them- 
selves in  procuring  any  stranger  or  other  person  who 
they  thought  would  be  agreeable  to  the  old  man  to 
dine  with  him,  the  party  being  thus  lo  or  12  every 
day,  or  more.  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  occasion- 
ally there  with    Mrs.    Creevey.  .  .  .   However   rough 


L()K1>     rilURi.OW, 


\_'J'o/ace  p.  60. 


i8o5.]  LORD   THURLOW.  6l 

Thurlow  might  be  with  men,  he  was  the  politest  man 
in  the  world  to  ladies.  Two  or  three  hours  were 
occupied  by  him  at  dinner  in  laying  wait  for  any 
unfortunate  slip  or  ridiculous  observation  that  might 
be  made  by  any  of  his  J7ialc  visitors,  whom,  when 
caught,  he  never  left  hold  of,  till  I  have  seen  the  sweat 
run  down  their  faces  from  the  scrape  they  had  got  into. 

"  Having  seen  this  property  of  his,  I  took  care,  of 
course,  to  keep  clear  of  him,  and  have  often  enjoyed 
extremely  seeing  the  figures  which  men  have  cut  who 
came  with  the  evident  intention  of  shewing  off  before 
him,  Curran,  the  Irish  lawyer,  was  a  striking  instance 
of  this.  I  dined  with  him  at  Thurlow's  one  day,  and 
Thurlow  just  made  as  great  a  fool  of  him  as  he  did 
formerly  of  Tooke. 

"Thurlow  was  always  dressed  in  a  full  suit  of 
cloaths  of  the  old  fashion,  great  cuffs  and  massy 
buttons,  great  wig,  long  ruffles,  &c. ;  the  black  eye- 
brows exceeded  in  size  any  I  have  ever  seen,  and  his 
voice,  tho'  by  no  means  devoid  of  melody,  was  a  kind 
of  rolling,  murmuring  thunder.  He  had  great  reading, 
particularly  classical,  and  was  a  very  distinguished,  as 
well  as  most  daring,  converser.  I  never  heard  of  any 
one  but  Mr.  Hare  who  had  fairly  beat  him,  and  this  I 
know  from  persons  who  were  present.  Hare  did  more 
than  once,  at  Carlton  House  and  at  Woburn. 

"  Sir  Philip  Francis,  whom  I  knew  intimately,  and 
who  certainly  was  a  remarkably  quick  and  clever  man, 
was  perpetually  vowing  vengeance  against  Thurlow, 
and  always  fixing  his  time  during  this  autumn  of  1805 
for  'making  an  example  of  the  old  ruffian,'  either  at 
the  Pavilion  or  wherever  he  met  him  ;  but  1  have  seen 
them  meet  afterwards,  and  tho'  Thurlow  was  always 
ready  for  battle,  Francis,  who  on  all  other  occasions 
was  bold  as  a  lion,  would  never  stir. 

"The  grudge  he  owed  to  Thurlow  was  certainly 
not  slightly  grounded.  When  Francis  and  Generals 
Clavering  and  Monson  were  sent  to  India  in  1773, 
to  check  Hastings  in  his  career,  their  conduct  was 
extolled  to  the  skies  by  our  party  in  parliament,  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  Lord  Thurlow  in  the  House  of 
Lords  said  that  the  greatest  misfortune  to  India  and 
to  England  was  that  the  ship  which  carried  these 
three  gentlemen  out  had  not  gone  to  the  bottom.  .  . 


62  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  III. 

".  .  .  During  the  autumn  of  1805  the  Prince  was  a 
very  great  politician.  He  considered  himself  as  the 
Head  of  the  Whig  Party,  and  was  perpetually  at  work 
cajoling  shabby  people,  as  he  thought,  into  becoming 
Whigs  out  of  compliment  to  him,  but  who  ate  his 
dinners  and  voted  with  the  Ministers  just  the  same. 
I  remember  dining  with  him  at  George  Johnstone's  at 
Brighton — the  Duke  of  Clarence,  old  Thurlow,  Lord 
and  Lady  Bessborough  and  a  very  large  party,  of 
which  Suza,  the  Portuguese  Ambassador  was  one. 
After  dinner  the  Prince,  addressing  himself  to  Suza, 
described  himself  as  being  the  Head  of  the  great  Whig 
party  in  England,  and  then  entered  at  great  length 
upon  the  merit  of  Whig  principles,  and  the  great  glory 
it  was  to  him,  the  Prince,  to  be  the  head  of  a  party 
who  advocated  such  principles.  Finally,  he  appealed 
to  Suza  for  his  opinion  upon  that  subject;  but  the 
Portuguese  was  much  too  wary  to  be  taken  in.  He 
thanked  the  Prince  with  great  force,  ability  and  pro- 
priety for  his  condescension  in  giving  him  the  infor- 
mation he  had  done,  but,  as  he  added,  the  subject  was 
an  entirely  new  one  to  him,  he  prayed  his  Royal 
Highness  would  have  the  goodness  to  excuse  him 
giving  an  opinion  upon  it,  till  he  had  considered  it 
more  maturely. 

"  It  seemed  at  that  time  the  Prince's  politicks  were 
almost  always  uppermost  with  him  .  .  .  Upon  one 
occasion  I  remember  dining  with  the  Prince  at  Lady 
Downshire's,  Lord  Winslow  and  different  people  being 
there.  After  dinner  he  said  to  me  privately  :  '  Creevey, 
you  must  go  home  with  me.'  So  when  he  went  he 
took  me  in  his  coach,  and  when  we  got  to  the  Pavilion 
he  said :  'Now,  Creevey,  you  and  I  must  go  over  the 
House  of  Commons  together,  and  see  who  are  our 
friends  and  who  are  our  enemies.'  Accordingly,  he 
got  his  own  red  book,  and  we  went  over  the  House 
of  Commons  name  by  name.  He  had  one  mark  for  a 
friend  and  another  for  an  enemy,  and  of  course  every 
member  of  the  Government  who  was  then  in  the 
House  of  Commons  had  the  enemy's  mark  put  against 
his  name.  .  .  .  Having  made  all  these  marks  himself, 
he  gave  me  the  book,  and  told  me  to  take  it  home  with 
me.  At  this  time  Lord  Castlereagh  had  just  lost  his 
election  for  the  county  of  Down,  entirely  from  Lady 


x8o5.]  THE   DUKE    OF   YORK.  63 

Downshire's    opposition.      She    had    gone    over    to 
Ireland  expressly  for  that  purpose. 

"  When  the  Prince  returned  from  a  visit  of  two  or 
three  days  to  the  King  at  Weymouth,  he  was  very 
indiscreet  in  talking  at  his  table  about  the  King's 
infirmities,  there  being  such  people  as  Miles  Peter 
Andrews  and  Sir  George  Shee  present,  in  common 
with  other  spies  and  courtiers.  So  when  he  described 
the  King  as  so  blind  that  he  had  nearly  fallen  into 
some  hole  at  Lord  Dorchester's,  I  said — '  Poor  man, 
Sir!'  in  a  very  audible  and  serious  tone,  and  he 
immediately  took  the  hint  and  stopt. 

"  Upon  another  occasion  the  Duke  of  York*  came 
to  the  Pavilion.  It  was  some  military  occasion — a 
review  of  the  troops,  I  believe — and  there  was  a  great 
assemblage  of  military  people  there.  Nothing  could 
be  so  cold  and  formal  as  the  Prince's  manner  to  the 
Duke.  As  he  was  coming  up  the  room  towards  the 
Prince,  the  Prince  said  to  me  in  an  undertone — '  Do 
you  know  the  Duke  of  York.'  On  my  replying—'  No, 
sir,'  he  said—'  He's  a  damned  bad  politician,  but  I'll 
introduce  you  to  him,'  and  this  he  did,  with  great  form. 

''Amongst  other  things,  the  Prince  took  to  a  violent 
desire  of  bringing  Romilly  into  Parliament,  and  having 
found  that  I  was  well  acquainted  with  him,  he  com- 
missioned me  to  write  to  Romilly,  and  to  offer  him  a 
seat  in  the  House  of  Commons  in  the  Prince's  name. 
This  of  course  I  did,  but,  in  so  doing,  I  did  not  hesitate 
to  express  my  own  suspicions  as  to  the  reality  of  the 
thing  offered,  nor  did  I  withhold  my  opinion  as  to 
Romilly's  doing  best  to  decline  it,  could  it  even  be 
accomplished.  I  begged  him,  however,  to  write  me 
two  answers,  one  for  the  Prince's  inspection,  and  the 
other  for  my  own  private  instruction,  if  he  was 
desirous  the  project  should  be  entertained  at  all. 
Romilly,  however,  as  I  was  sure  he  would,  wrote  me 
an  answer  that  was  an  unequivocal,  tho'  of  course 
very  grateful,  refusal  of  the  favour  offered  him.f 

"  Having  mentioned  a  dinner  I  had  at  Johnstone's 
in  Brighton  in  1805,  I  can't  help  adverting  to  what 
took  place  that  day.     The  late  King  (George  IV.)  and 

*  Commander-in-chief, 
t  See  p.  40,  supra. 


64  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  III. 

the  present  one  (William  IV.)  both  dined  there,  and  it 
so  happened  that  there  was  a  great  fight  on  the  same 
day  between  the  Chicken  *  and  Gully.f  The  Duke  of 
Clarence  was  present  at  it,  and  as  the  battle,  from  the 
interference  of  Magistrates,  was  fought  at  a  greater 
distance  from  Brighton  than  was  intended,  the  Duke 
was  very  late,  and  did  not  arrive  till  dinner  was  nearly 
over.  I  mention  the  case  on  account  of  the  change 
that  has  since  taken  place  as  to  these  parties.  Gully 
was  then  a  professional  prize-fighter  from  the  ranks, 
and  fighting  for  money.  Since  that  time,  the  Duke  of 
Clarence  has  become  Sovereign  of  the  country,  and 
Gully  has  become  one  of  its  representatives  in  par- 
liament. As  Gully  always  attends  at  Court,  as  well 
as  in  the  House  of  Commons,  it  would  be  curious  to 
know  whether  the  King,  with  his  accurate  recollec- 
tion of  all  the  events  of  his  life,  and  his  passion  for 
adverting  to  them,  has  ever  given  to  Gully  any  hint 
of  that  day's  proceedings.  There  is,  to  be  sure,  one 
reason  why  he  should  not,  for  Gully  was  beaten  that 
day  by  the  Chicken,  as  I  have  reason  to  remember;  for 
LordThurlow  and  myself  being  the  two  first  to  arrive 
before  dinner,  he  asked  if  I  had  heard  any  account  of 
the  fight.  I  repeated  what  I  had  heard  in  the  streets, 
viz.  that  Gully  had  given  the  Chicken  so  tremendous 
a  knock-down  blow  at  starting,  that  the  latter  had 
never  answered  to  him  ;  so  when  the  Duke  of  Clarence 
came  and  told  us  that  Gully  was  beat,  old  Thurlow 
growled  out  from  his  end  of  the  table — *  Mr.  Creevey, 
I  think  an  action  would  lie  against  you  by  the  Chicken 
for  taking  away  his  character.' 

"  Lord  Thurlow  was  a  great  drinker  of  port  wine, 
and  Johnstone,  who  was  the  most  ridiculous  toady  of 
great  men,  said  to  him  that  evening — '  I  am  afraid,  my 
lord,  the  port  wine  is  not  so  good  as  I  could  wish;' 

*  Heniy  Pearce,  the  "  Game  Chicken,"  champion  of  England. 

t  John  Gully  [1783- 1863],  son  of  a  publican  and  butcher,  made 
his  debut  in  the  prize-ring  in  1805,  and  was  recognised  as  virtual, 
though  not  formal,  champion  after  Pearce,  the  Game  Chicken, 
retired  at  the  end  of  that  year.  In  1808  he  became  a  bookmaker  and 
publican.  He  made  a  good  deal  of  money ;  became  a  successful 
owner  of  racehorses;  and,  having  purchased  Ackworth  Park,  near 
Pontefract,  represented  that  borough  in  Parliament  from  1832  till  1837. 


i8o5.]  SOCIETY  AT   BRIGHTON.  65 

upon   which   old   Thurlow  growled    again — '  I   have 
tasted  better!'" 

The  foregoing  narrative  will  enable  the  reader  to 
understand  many  of  the  allusions  in  the  following 
letters  written  by  Mrs.  Creevey  from  Brighton  to  her 
husband  while  he  was  attending  to  his  parliamentary 
duties.  It  must  be  understood  also  that  Creevey  was 
quite  sensible  of  the  advantage  which  might  be  ex- 
pected in  regard  to  his  own  political  prospects  from 
the  favour  he  had  found  in  the  royal  leader  of  the 
Whigs.  The  King's  madness  might  return  on  any 
day ;  the  Prince  of  Wales  would  become  Regent, 
and  nobody  doubted  that,  so  soon  as  he  had  the 
power,  he  would  dismiss  the  Tory  Ministers  of  his 
father.  Mrs.  Creevey,  therefore,  loyally  played  up 
to  her  husband's  hand,  and,  like  her  lord,  continued 
charitably  blind  to  the  character  and  habits  of  their 
master.  Like  all  who  ever  made  her  acquaintance, 
both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Creevey  speak  enthusiastically  of 
the  unfortunate  Mrs.  Fitzherbert,  whom  the  Prince  had 
married  in  1785. 

Mrs.  Creevey  to  Mr.  Creevey  in  London. 

"  Brighton,  Oct.  29th,  1805. 

".  .  .  Oh,  this  wicked  Pavillion !  we  were  there 
till  \  past  one  this  morng.,  and  it  has  kept  me  in  bed 
with  the  headache  till  12  to-day.  .  .  .  The  invitation 
did  not  come  to  us  till  9  o'clock  :  we  went  in  Lord 
Thurlow's  carriage,  and  were  in  fear  of  being  too  late ; 
but  the  Prince  did  not  come  out  of  the  dining-room 
till  II.  Till  then  our  only  companions  were  Lady 
Downshire  and  Mr.  and  Miss  Johnstone — the  former 
very  goodnatured  and  amiable.  .  .  .  When  the  Prince 
appeared,  I  instantly  saw  he  had  got  more  wine  than 
usual,  and  it  was  still  more  evident  that  the  German 
Baron  was  extremely  drunk.    The  Prince  came  up  and 


66  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  III. 

sat  by  me — introduced  McMahon  to  me,  and  talked  a 
great  deal  about  Mrs.  Fitzherbert — said  she  had  been 
'  delighted  '  with  my  note,  and  wished  much  to  see  me. 
He  asked  her  'When?' — and  he  said  her  answer  was 
— '  Not  tiWyou  are  gone,  and  I  can  see  her  comfortably.^ 
I  suppose  this  might  be  correct,  for  Mac  told  me  he 
had  been  'worrying  her  to  death'  all  the  morning. 

"  It  appears  to  me  I  have  found  a  true  friend  in 
Mac*  He  is  even  more  foolish  than  I  expected ;  but 
I  shall  be  disappointed  if,  even  to  you,  he  does  not 
profess  himself  my  devoted  admirer. 

"Afterwards  the  Prince  led  all  the  party  to  the 
table  where  the  maps  lie,  to  see  him  shoot  with  an 
air-gun  at  a  target  placed  at  the  end  of  the  room. 
He  did  it  very  skilfully,  and  wanted  all  the  ladies  to 
attempt  it.  The  girls  and  I  excused  ourselves  on 
account  of  our  short  sight ;  but  Lady  Downshire  hit 
a  fiddler  in  the  dining-room.  Miss  Johnstone  a  door 
and  Bloomfield  the  ceiling.  ...  I  soon  had  enough 
of  this,  and  retired  to  the  fire  with  Mac.  ...  At  last 
a  waltz  was  played  by  the  band,  and  the  Prince  offered 
to  waltz  with  Miss  Johnstone,  but  very  quietly,  and 
once  round  the  table  made  him  giddy,  so  of  course  it 
was  proper  for  his  partner  to  be  giddy  too ;  but  he 
cruelly  only  thought  of  supporting  himself,  so  she 
reclined  on  the  Baron." 

"  Sunday,  Nov.  3,  1805. 

"And  so  I  amuse  you  by  my  histories.  Well!  I 
am  glad  of  it,  and  it  encourages  me  to  go  on ;  and  yet 
I  can  tell  you  1  could  tire  of  such  horrors  as  I  have 
had  the  last  3  evenings.  I  nevertheless  estimate  them 
as  you  do,  and  am  quite  disposed  to  persevere.  The 
second  evening  was  the  worst.  We  were  in  the  dining- 
room  (a  comfortless  place  except  for  eating  and  drink- 
ing in),  and  sat  in  a  circle  round  the  fire,  which  (to 
indulge  you  with  '  detail ')  was  thus  arranged.  Mrs. 
F[itzherbert]  in  the  chimney  corner  (but  not  knitting), 
next  to  her  Lady  Downshire — then  Mrs.  Creevey— 
then  Geoff — then  Dr.  Icrascd^ — then  Savory — then 
Warner — then  Day,  vis-a-vis  his  mistress,  and  most 
of  the  time  snoring  like  a  pig  and  waking  for  nothing 

*  The  Right  Hon.  John  Macmahon,  Private  Secretary  and  Keeper 
of  the  Privy  Purse  to  the  Prince  of  Wales.     Died  in  1817. 


1805.]  EVENINGS   AT  THE    PAVILION.  ^7 

better  than  a  glass  of  water,  which  he  call'd  for, 
hoping,  I  think,  to  be  offered  something  better.  .  .  . 
Last  night  was  better;  it  was  the  same  party  only 
instead  of  Savory,  a  Col.  or  Major  Watley  [?]  of  the 
Gloster  Militia,  and  the  addition  of  Mrs.  Morant,  an 
old  card-playing  woman.  .  .  .  Mrs.  Fitz  shone  last 
night  very  much  in  a  sketch  she  gave  me  of  the  history 
of  a  very  rich  Russian  woman  of  quality  who  is  coming 
to  Lord  Berkeley's  house.  She  has  been  long  in 
England,  and  is  I  suppose  generally  known  in  London, 
though  new  to  me.  She  was  a  married  woman  with 
children,  and  of  great  consequence  at  the  court  of 
Petersburgh  when  Lord  Whitworth  was  there  some 
years  ago.  He  was  poor  and  handsome — she  rich 
and  in  love  with  him,  and  tired  of  a  very  magnificent 
husband  to  whom  she  had  been  married  at  14  years 
old.  In  short,  she  kept  my  Lord,  and  spent  immense 
sums  in  doing  so  and  gratifying  his  great  extravagance. 
In  the  midst  of  all  this  he  return'd  to  England,  but 
they  corresponded,  and  she  left  her  husband  and  her 
country  to  come  to  him,  expecting  to  marry  him — got 
as  far  as  Berlin,  and  there  heard  he  was  married  to 
the  Duchess  of  Dorset. 

"  She  was  raving  mad  for  some  time,  and  Mrs.  F, 
describes  her  as  being  often  nearly  so  now,  but  at 
other  times  most  interesting,  and  most  miserable. 
Her  husband  and  children  come  to  England  to  visit 
her,  and  Mrs.  F.  says  she  is  an  eternal  subject  of 
remorse  to  Lord  Whitworth,  whom  she  [Mrs.  F.] 
spoke  of  in  warm  terms  as  'a  monster,'  and  said  she 
could  tell  me  far  more  to  make  me  think  so.  The  story 
sometimes  hit  upon  points  that  made  her  blush  and 
check  herself,  which  was  to  me  not  the  least  interest- 
ing part  of  it.  .  .  .  She  laughed  more  last  night  than 
ever  at  the  Johnstones — said  he  was  a  most  vulgar 
man,  but  seem'd  to  give  him  credit  for  his  good  nature 
to  his  sister  and  his  generosity.  The  Baron  is  pre- 
paring a  phantasmagoria  at  the  Pavillion,  and  she 
[Mrs.  F.]  laughs  at  what  he  may  do  with  Miss  John- 
stone in  a  dark  room." 

,"5th  Nov.,  1805. 

".  .  .  My  head  is  very^  bad,  I  suppose  with  the  heat 
of  the  Pavillion    last   night.     We  were  there  before 


68  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  III. 

Mrs.  Fitzherbert  came,  and  it  almost  made  her  faint, 
but  she  put  on  no  airs  to  be  interesting  and  soon 
recovered,  and  I  had  a  great  deal  of  comfortable  prose 
with  her.  It  was  rather  formidable  when  we  arrived  : 
nobody  but  Mrs.  Morant  and  the  Prince  and  Dr. 
Fraser,  and  for  at  least  half-an-hour  in  this  little  circle 
the  conversation  was  all  between  the  Prince  and  me 
— first  about  Sheridan,  and  about  not  seeing  you,  and 
his  determination  to  make  you  come  (if  not  bring  you) 
back  next  week,  when  he  is  to  have  Lord  St,  Vincent, 
Markham,  Sheridan,  Tierney,  &c.  .  .  .  Lady  Down- 
shire  soon  came,  but  did  not  help  conversation — 
then  came  Geoff  and  Mrs.  Fitz,  and  soon  afterwards 
the  men  from  the  dining-room,  consisting  of  only  Day 
and  Warner,  Savory,  Bloomfield  and  the  Baron.  The 
Prince  told  Mrs.  F.  he  would  not  have  any  more,  lest 
they  should  disturb  her,  .  .  .  Before  she  came,  he  was 
talking  of  the  fineness  of  the  day,  and  said  : — *  But  I 
was  not  out.  I  went  to  Mrs.  Fitzherbert's  at  one 
o'clock,  and  stay'd  talking  with  her  till  past  6,  which 
was  certainly  very  imfashioitable.'  Now  was  he  not 
at  that  moment  thinking  of  her  as  his  lawful  wife?  for 
in  no  other  sense  could  he  call  it  unfashionable^ 

"Wednesday,  Nov.  6,  1805. 

"  I  am  much  flatter'd,  dearest  Creevey,  that  you 
complain  when  my  letters  are  short.  ...  I  went  to 
the  Pavillion  last  night  quite  well,  and  moreover  am 
well  to-day  and  fit  for  Johnstone's  ball,  which  at  last 
is  to  be.  They  were  at  the  Pavillion  and  she  [Miss 
Johnstone]  persecuted  both  the  Prince  and  Mrs.  Fitz- 
herbert like  a  most  impudent  fool.  The  former  was 
all  complyance  and  good  nature — the  latter  very  civil, 
but  most  steady  in  refusing  to  go.  She  said  she  could 
not  go  out,  and  Miss  J.  grinned  and  answer'd — 'Oh! 
but  you  are  out  here' — then  urged  that  it  had  been  put 
off  on  purpose  for  Mrs.  F.,  who  said  she  was  sorry  for 
it,  but  hoped  it  wd.  be  put  off  no  longer.  All  this 
Mrs.  F.  told  me  herself,  with  further  remarks,  just 
before  I  came  away,  which  I  did  with  Lady  Down- 
shire,  and  left  the  Johnstones  with  their  affairs  in  an 
unsettled  state,  and  with  faces  of  great  anxiety  and 
misery.     But  the  attack  was  renew'd,  and  the  Prince 


i8o5.]  DEATH   OF   NELSON.  69 

said  : — '  I  shall  have  great  pleasure  in  looking  in  upon 
you,  but  indeed  I  cannot  let  this  good  woman  (Mrs.  F.) 
come :  she  is  quite  unfit  for  it.'  And  so  we  shall  see 
the  fun  of  his  looking  in  or  staying  all  the  evening, 
for  poor  Johnstone  has  been  running  about  the  Steyne 
with  a  paper  in  his  hand  all  the  morning  and  invited 
us  all.  .  .  .  When  I  got  to  the  Pavillion  last  night  .  .  . 
the  Prince  sat  down  by  me  directly,  and  I  told  him 
my  headache  had  made  me  late,  and  he  was  very 
affectionate.  .  .  .  Harry  Grey  has  just  come  in  with 
news  of  a  great  victory  at  sea  and  poor  Nelson  being 
kill'd.  It  has  come  by  express  to  the  Prince,  and  it 
is  said  20  sail  are  taken  or  destroyed.  What  will  this 
do?  not,  I  hope,  save  Pitt;  but  both  parties  may  now 
be  humble  and  make  peace.  .  .  . 

"  I  have  had  new  visitors  here  this  morning — 
Madle.  Voeykoff,  the  niece  of  the  old  Russian,  and 
Mde.  Pieton,  a  young  friend,  daughter  of  the  famous 
Mrs.  Nesbitt  and  Prince  Ferdinand  of  Wirtemburgh, 
as  is  supposed.  I  talked  with  her  last  night,  because 
Mrs.  F.  praised  her  as  a  most  amiable  creature,  and  I 
liked  her  very  much.  In  short,  as  usual,  the  Pavillion 
amused  me,  and  I  wd.  rather  have  been  there  again 
to-night  than  at  Johnstone's  nasty  ball  and  fine 
supper." 


Mrs.  Fitzherhevt  to  Mrs.  Creevey. 

"Nov.  6, 1S05. 
"Dr.  Madam, 

"  The  Prince  has  this  moment  reed,  an  account 
from  the  Admiralty  of  the  death  of  poor  Lord  Nelson, 
which  has  affected  him  most  extremely.  I  think  you 
may  wish  to  know  the  news,  which,  upon  any  other 
occasion  might  be  called  a  glorious  victory — twenty 
out  of  three  and  thirty  of  the  enemy's  fleet  being 
entirely  destroyed— no  English  ship  being  taken  or 
sunk— Capts.  Duff  and  Cook  both  kill'd,  and  the 
French  Adl.  Villeneuve  taken  prisoner.  Poor  Lord 
Nelson  reed,  his  death  by  a  shot  of  a  musket  from 
the  enemy's  ship  upon  his  shoulder,  and  expir'd  two 
hours  after,  but  not  till  the  ship  struck  and  afterwards 
sunk,  which  he  had  the  consolation  of  hearing,  as  well 


70  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  III. 

as  his  compleat  victory,  before  he  died.  Excuse  this 
hurried  scrawl :  I  am  so  nervous  I  scarce  can  hold  my 
pen.     God  bless  you. 

''  Yours, 

"M.    FlTZHERBERT." 


Mrs.  Creevey  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Friday  night,  12  o'clock. 

"Dearest  Creevey, 

"...  I  think  you  will  like  to  hear  I  have  spent 
a  very  comfortable  evening  with  my  mistress.*  We 
had  a  long  discourse  about  Lady  Wellesley.  The 
folly  of  men  marrying  such  women  led  us  to  Mrs. 
Fox,  and  I  saw  she  would  have  liked  to  go  further 
than  I  dared,  or  than  our  neighbours  would  permit. 
.  .  .  They  were  all  full  of  Prussians  and  Swedes  and 
Danes  and  Russians  coming  soon  with  irresistible 
destruction  on  Buonaparte.  I  wonder  if  there  is  a 
chance  of  it.     I  don't  believe  it,  .  .  ." 

"Nov.  7,  1805. 

".  .  .  [The  Prince's]  sorrow  [for  Nelson's  death] 
might  help  to  prevent  his  coming  to  dinner  at  the 
Pavillion  or  to  Johnstone's  ball.  He  did  neither,  but 
stayed  with  Mrs.  Fitz ;  and  you  may  imagine  the  dis- 
appointment of  the  Johnstones.  The  girl  grin'd  it  off 
with  the  captain,  but  Johnstone  had  a  face  of  perfect 
horror  all  night,  and  I  think  he  was  very  near  insane. 
I  once  lamented  Lord  Nelson  to  him,  and  he  said : — 

*  Oh  shocking :  and  to  come  at  such  an  unlucky 
time!'  .  .  ." 

"  8th  Nov. 

".  .  .  The  first  of  my  visits  this  morning  was   to 

*  my  Mistress.'  ...  I  found  her  alone,  and  she  was 
excellent — gave  me  an  account  of  the  Prince's  grief 
about  Lord  N.,  and  then  entered  into  the  domestic 
failings  of  the  latter  in  a  way  infinitely  creditable  to 
her,  and  skilful  too.  She  was  all  for  Lady  Nelson  and 
against  Lady  Hamilton,  who,  she  said  (hero  as  he 
was)  overpower'd  him   and  took   possession    of  him 

*  Mrs.  Fitzherbert. 


i8o5.]  MRS.   FITZHERBERT.  71 

quite  by  force.  But  she  ended  in  a  natural,  good  way, 
by  saying  : — '  Poor  creature  !  I  am  sorry  for  her  now, 
for  I  suppose  she  is  in  grief  " 

"  Past  4  o'clock,  Monday. 
".  .  .  Mrs.  Fitzherbert  came  before  12  and  has 
literally  only  this  moment  left  me.  We  have  been 
all  the  time  alone,  and  she  has  been  confidential  to  a 
degree  that  almost  frightens  me,  and  that  I  can  hardly 
think  sufficiently  accounted  for  by  her  professing  in 
the  strongest  terms  to  have  liked  me  more  and  more 
every  time  she  has  seen  me,  tho'  at  first  she  told  Mr. 
Tierney  no  person  had  ever  struck  her  so  much  at 
first  sight.  ...  So  much  in  excuse  for  her  telling  me 
the  history  of  her  life,  and  dwelling  more  particularly 
on  the  explanation  of  all  her  feelings  and  conduct 
towards  the  Prince.  If  she  is  as  trite  as  I  think  she 
is  wisey  she  is  an  extraordinary  person,  and  most 
worthy  to  be  beloved.  It  was  quite  impossible  to 
keep  clear  of  Devonshire  House ;  and  there  her 
opinions  are  all  precisely  mine  and  yours,  and,  what 
is  better,  she  sa3'^s  they  are  now  the  Prince's ;  that  he 
knows  everything — above  all,  how  money  is  made  by 
promises,  unauthorised  by  him,  in  the  event  of  his 
having  power;  that  he  knows  how  his  character  is 
involved  in  various  transactions  of  that  house,  and 
that  he  only  goes  into  it,  from  motives  of  compassion 
and  old  friendship,  when  he  is  persecuted  to  do  so. 
In  short,  he  tells  Mrs.  F.  all  he  sees  and  hears,  shews 
her  all  the  Duchess's  letters  and  notes,  and  she  saj'^s 
she  knows  the  Dss.  hates  her.  .  .  .  We  talked  of  her 
life  being  written ;  she  said  she  supposed  it  would 
some  time  or  other,  but  with  thousands  of  lies;  but 
she  would  be  dead  and  it  would  not  signify.  I  urged 
her  to  write  it  herself,  but  she  said  it  would  break  her 
heart." 

"Nov.  27,  1805. 

"...  I  was  very  sorry  indeed  to  go  to  the  Pavil- 
lion,  and  'my  Master'  made  me  no  amends  for  my 
exertion — no  shaking  hands — only  a  common  bow  in 
passing — and  not  a  word  all  night,  except  just  before 
I  came  away  some  artificial  stuff  about  the  Baron,  and 
then    a   little   parting    shake   of  the   hand   with    this 


72  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS,  [Ch.  III. 

interesting  observation—'  So  Creevey  is  gone,'  and  the 
interesting  answer  of— '  Yes,  Sin'  In  short  I  suspect 
he  was  a  little  affronted  by  our  going  away  the  night 
before :  but  I  don't  mind  it— he  will  soon  come  about 
again;  or  if  he  does  not,  I  will  make  him  ashamed  by 
begging  his  pardon." 

"  Nov.  29th. 

"...  Well,  I  am  quite  in  favor  again.  When  I 
entered  Gerobtzoff's  room  last  night  Prinny*  was  on 
a  sofa  directly  opposite  the  door,  and  in  return  for  a 
curtsey,  perhaps  rather  more  grave,  more  low  and 
humble  than  usual  (meaning— '  I  beg  your  pardon 
dear  foolish,  beautiful  Prinny  for  making  you  take 
the  pet'),  he  put  out  his  hand.  .  .  .  We  soon  went  to 
see  the  ball  at  the  Pavillion,  and  Mrs.  Fitz  selected 
me  to  go  in  the  first  party  in  a  way  that  set  up  the 
backs  of  various  persons  and  puzzled  even  Geoff.  .  .  . 
We  were  soon  tired  of  the  amusement  and  sick  of  the 
heat  and  stink.  Neither  the  Prince  nor  any  one  stay'd 
long,  and  the  rest  of  the  evening  was  horribly  dull ; 
but  luckily  for  me,  when  the  Prince  returned  I  was 
sitting  on'a  little  sofa  that  wd.  only  hold  tvvo,  and  the 
other  seat  was  vacant;  so  he  came  to  it,  and  never 
left  me  or  spoke  to  another  person  till  within  10 
minutes  of  my  coming  away  at  -|-  past  12.  .  .  .  We  had 
the  old  stories  of  Mrs.  Sheridan,  only  with  some  new 
additions  ...  we  had  Charles  Grey  too,  and  he  talked 
of  his  [Grey's]  dislike  to  him,  because  in  the  Regency 
he  wd.  not  hear  of  his  being  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer. He  talked  of  his  bad  temper  and  his  early 
presumption  in  overrating  his  own  talents.  .  .  .  He 
told  me  that  when  he  was  king  he  wd.  not  give  up  his 
private  society,  and  on  my  saying  a  little  flattering 
sentence  about  the  good  1  expected  from  him,  he 
actually  said — '  he  hoped  I  should  never  have  cause 
to  think  differently  of  him.'  This  was  going  his 
length,  so  1  stopt." 

"Dec.  2,  1805. 

".  .  .  We  have  been  at  the  Pavillion  both  Friday 
and  yesterday,  and  Mrs.  F.  has  desired  us  to  come 
every  night  without  invitation.  .  .  .  Both  these  parties 

*  The  Prince  of  Wales. 


i8o5.]  THE   PRINCE   OF   WALES.  ^l 

have  been  private  and  the  Prince  ec^ually  good  and 
attentive  to  me  at  both.  .  .  .  Last  night  he  took  me 
under  his  arm  through  the  dark,  wet  garden  into  the 
other  house,  to  shew  me  a  picture  of  himself.  Poor 
little  Lady  Downshire  push'd  herself  (tho'  humbly) 
into  our  party,  but  he  sent  her  before  with  Bloomfield 
and  thelanthorn,  and  he  and  I  might  have  gone  astray 
in  any  way  we  had  liked  ;  but  I  can  assure  you  (faith- 
less as  you  are  about  coming  back  to  me)  nothing 
worse  happened  than  his  promise  of  giving  me  tJie 
best  print  that  ever  was  done  of  him,  and  mine  that  it 
shall  hang  in  the  best  place  amongst  my  friends." 

"Dec.  5,  1803. 

".  .  .  It  was  a  large  party  at  the  Pavillion  last 
night,  and  the  Prince  was  not  well  .  .  .  and  went  off 
to  bed.  .  .  .  Lord  Hutchinson  was  my  chief  flirt  for 
the  evening,  but  before  Prinny  went  off  he  took  a 
seat  by  me  to  tell  me  all  this  bad  news  had  made  him 
bilious  and  that  he  was  further  overset  yesterday  by 
seeing  the  ship  with  Lord  Nelson's  body  on  board.  .  .  . 
None  of  them  knew  Pitt  was  gone  to  Bath  till  I  told 
them.  I  ask'd  both  Lord  H[utchinson]  and  his  Master 
if  they  wd.  like  him  to  die  now,  or  live  a  little  longer 
to  be  turn'd  out.  They  both  decidedly  prefer  instant 
death.  ...  I  think  Sheridan  may  probably  return  with 
you  on  Friday  if  you  ask  him.  On  second  thoughts — 
I  would  not  have  you  ask  him,  for  he  will  make  you 
wait  and  sleep  at  the  Cock  at  Sutton." 


(     74     ) 


CHAPTER   IV. 

1 806- 1 808. 

Pitt  never  rallied  from  the  shock  of  Ulm  and 
Austerlitz.  Parliament  was  to  meet  on  21st  January, 
1806,  and  he  travelled  up  from  Bath  by  easy  stages  to 
his  villa  at  Putney,  where  he  arrived  on  the  nth,  and 
invitations  were  issued  for  the  customary  official 
dinner  of  the  First  Lord  of  the  Treasury  on  the  20th. 
But  that  dinner  never  took  place.  Lord  Henry  Petty 
had  given  notice  of  an  amendment  to'  the  Address 
censuring  Pitt's  administration ;  but  out  of  respect  to 
a  disabled  foe,  he  did  not  move  it,  and  the  Address 
was  agreed  to  without  debate. 

Hon.  Charles  Grey,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Howick,  Jan.  13,  1806. 

"  I  received  your  letter  last  night,  and  had  from 
other  quarters  the  same  reports  of  Pitt's  illness  and 
resignation.  I  think  3'ou  will  probably  find  these 
among  the  false  reports  of  the  day.  I  cannot  believe 
in  his  resigning  again  while  he  has  breath ;  and  as 
to  his  health,  I  shall  not  be  surprised  to  see  him 
making  a  speech  of  two  hours  on  the  first  day  of  the 
Session." 

Pitt  expired  on  23rd  January,  and  the  old  King 
had   at   last  to  have  recourse   to   the  Whigs.     Lord 


i8o6-8.]  "ALL  THE   TALENTS."  75 

Grenville  formed  a  coalition  Cabinet,  nicknamed 
"All  the  Talents,"  in  which  Fox  held  the  seals  of  the 
Foreign  Office,  Grey  was  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty, 
Addington,  now  Lord  Sidmouth,  took  the  Privy 
Seal,  and  Erskine  as  Whig  Lord  Chancellor  balanced 
Ellenborough  as  Tory  Lord  Chief  Justice  with  a  seat 
in  the  Cabinet.  Mr.  Creevey's  past  activity  and 
promise  of  more  were  not  overlooked,  and  he  was 
appointed  Secretary  to  the  Board  of  Controul — a  post 
which,  as  his  friend  Mr.  (afterwards  Lord)  Grey 
wrote  to  him,  was  "  better  in  point  of  emolument  and 
of  more  real  work "  than  a  seat  at  the  Board  of 
Admiralty  which  was  first  intended  for  him,  "and 
not  obliging  you  to  vacate  your  seat"  in  Parliament. 
Associated  with  this  office  were  the  duties  of  party 
whip,  which  Creevey  began  to  discharge  forthwith. 
Some  of  the  Ministers  seeking  re-election  on  taking- 
office  had  to  fight  fiercely  for  their  seats ;  the  Whig 
Lord  Henry  Petty,  having  accepted  office  as  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer,  was  opposed  at  Cambridge 
by  Lord  Althorp  and  Lord  Palmerston — both  of  them 
future  leaders  of  the  Liberal  party  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  But  before  that  should  happen,  Palmer- 
ston had  twenty  years  to  serve  as  a  Tory  Minister. 
It  was  of  this  contest  between  Petty  and  Palmerston 
that  Byron  wrote  in  Hours  of  Idleness  : — 

"  One  on  his  power  and  place  depends, 
The  other  on  the  Lord  knows  what ; 
Each  to  some  eloquence  pretends, 

Though  neither  will  convince  by  that." 


"J^  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  IV. 

Lord  Henry  Petty  to  Mr.  Creevcy. 

"Cambridge,  January,  1806. 

"We  go  on  well,  and  I  hope  to  beat  Palmerston 
even  if  Althorp  stands,  which  is  possible,  for  he  tells 
me  he  is  urged  to  continue,  and  tries  to  think  he  has 
some  chance  of  success,  which  is  out  of  the  question. 
The  Johnians  have  discovered  that  I  am  a  lurking 
dissenter.  .  .  .  Some  five  Pittites  proposed  setting  up 
Ld.  Hadley  to  give  the  College  an  opportunity  of 
showing  its  respect  for  the  memory  of  Mr.  P.  by 
voting  against  Ld.  Althorp  and  me." 

"  Cambridge,  28th  Jany.,  1806. 
"Dear  Creevey, 

"We  go  on  as  well  as  you  will  see  by  the 
list.  I  have  a  very  handsome  letter  from  Ld.  Perc}^ 
who  tells  me  he  has  written  to  the  Master,  Tutors 
and  all  his  friends  at  St.  John's  in  my  favor,  but  I 
fear  they  are  all  engaged  to  Palmerston.  The  latter, 
I  am  told,  has  130  secure.  Althorp  does  not  give 
way,  but  1  threaten  with  a  formal  proposal  to  com- 
pare strength,  which  discomposes  him  a  good  deal. 

"  Ever  yrs., 

"  Hy.  Petty." 

The  Prince  of  Wales,  as  a  keen  party  man,  and 
considering  himself  leader  of  the  Whigs,  was  not  idle 
at  such  a  crisis.  He  sent  out  his  commands  right 
and  left ;  woe  betide  him  who  failed  to  vote  as 
directed.  Such,  at  least,  was  evidently  the  appre- 
hension of  one  of  his  chaplains,  who  had  rashly 
pledged  himself  without  consulting  his  royal  master's 
wishes. 

Rev.  W.  Price  to  H.R.H.  the  Prince  of  Wales. 

"  55j  Upper  John  St.,  Fitzroy  Square,  Feb.  ist,  1806. 

"  Sir, 

"  Permit  me  to  observe  to  Your  Royal  High- 
ness, that  few  events  in  the  course  of  my  Life  have 
impress'd  me  with  more  uneasiness  than  the  Letter 


i8o6-S.]  CREEVEY   IN   OFFICE.  'jy 

which  I  have  receiv'd  from  Col.  McMahon  in  which  is 
intimated  Your  Royal  Highness's  commands  that  I 
give  my  Interest  to  Lord  Henry  Petty  as  a  Candidate 
for  the  University  of  Cambridge. 

"  I  beg  with  all  humility  to  assure  Your  Royal 
Highness,  my  Inclination  no  less  than  my  Duty  would 
dictate  an  obedience  to  Your  Royal  Highness  upon 
this  and  every  occasion,  but  I  am  to  lament  when  I 
had  the  Honor  to  attend  his  Majesty  at  St.  James's 
with  the  Address  from  the  University  of  Cambridge, 
Lord  Spencer  solicited  my  Vote  in  behalf  of  his  Son 
Lord  Althorp,  when  I,  not  conceiving  Your  Royal 
Highness  had  any  commands  on  this  occasion, 
promis'd  to  Lord  Spencer  that  Vote  which  he  now 
claims,  informing  me  Your  Royal  Highness  assur'd 
him  yesterday  you  wou'd  not  have  interfer'd  in 
opposition  to  Ld.  Althorp,  had  you  known  his 
intention  to  offer  himself.  I  am  therefore  humbly  to 
solicit  Your  Royal  Highness's  indulgence,  and  that  I 
may  not  suffer  in  your  estimation  on  this  occasion, 
and  beg  to  profess  how  greatly  I  feel  in  Duty  and 
Obedience. 

"Your  Royal  Highness's  most  devoted  and 
most  humble  Servant  and  Chaplain, 

"  William  Price." 


Lord  Robert  Spencer*  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Saturday  night. 

"Dear  Creevey, 

"  Pray  don't  forget  that  the  responsibility 
rests  with  you  as  to  C.  Fox's  coming  to  town  for 
Monday  or  not. 

"Yrs.  ever, 

"  R.  Spencer." 

Capt.  Graham  Moore,  R.N.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Fame  at  the  Nore,  6th  Feb.,  1806. 
"...   I  think  as  you  are  now  a  staunch  supporter 
of  the  Government,  there  can  be  no  great  harm  in  my 
corresponding  with  you.     I  own  to  you  that,  since 

*  Youngest  son  of  the  3rd  Duke  of  Marlborough. 


78  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  IV. 

Pitt's  death,  I  have  been  clearly  of  opinion  that 
Charles  Fox  was  the  man  whom  I  wished  to  see  at 
the  helm,  and,  altho'  I  have  long  ceased  to  be  very 
sangwine  in  my  expectation  with  regard  to  the  con- 
duct of  public  men,  yet  I  have  hopes  that  we  shall 
see  a  manly,  decided  line  of  conduct  adopted  by  the 
present  Muphties.  .  .  .  We  are  just  on  the  point  of 
weighing  anchor,  and  are  only  waiting  for  daylight  to 
see  our  way  to  St.  Helens,  where  I  am  ordered.  We 
have  been  manned  a  few  days — so-so — about  90  of  the 
Victory  s  form  the  groundwork.  They  are  not  what 
you  might  expect  from  the  companions  of  Nelson,  but 
they  will  do  with  some  whipf)ing  and  spurring.  We 
shall  be  tolerable  in  about  six  months;  in  the  mean- 
time we  must  do  our  best.  .  ,  ." 

Mr.  Crcevey  to  Dr.  Currie, 

"July,  1806. 

"...  I  dined  at  the  London  Tavern  last  night 
and  there  were  eight  Ministers  of  State  and  all  the 
India  directors,  and  secretaries  and  under-secre- 
taries  and  fellow-servants  of  all  descriptions  without 
end,  in  all  about  200,  but  the  devil  a  bit  of  Turtle ! 
upon  which  I  thought  little  Kensington  *  would  have 
cried,  Sheridan  and  I  were  for  crying  'Off!  off! 
off! '  and  damning  the  whole  piece  on  account  of  the 
absence  of  the  principal  performer.  I  sat  opposite  to 
Morpeth,t  and  I  made  him  blush  and  laugh  and  almost 
cry  all  at  once.  I  swore  it  was  the  beggarly  budget 
that  frightened  the  directors  out  of  giving  their 
masters  turtle.  M}^  comrogues  laughed,  and  the 
directors  did  not  half  like  the  joke.  .  .  .  You  see 
my  friend  Mr.  Howorth  has  been  adding  to  the 
amusements  of  Brighton  races  by  fighting  a  duel 
with  Lord  Barrymore.  His  lordship  was  his  adver- 
sary at  whist,  and  chose  to  tell  him  that  something 
he  said  about  the  cards  was  'false;'  upon  which 
Howorth  gave  him  such  a  blow  as  makes  the  lord 
walk  about  at  this  moment  with  a   black  eye.      Of 

*  The  2nd  Lord  Kensington. 

t  Lord  Morpeth  [1773-1848],  afterwards  6th  Earl  of  Carlisle,  re- 
presented India  in  the  new  administration. 


i8o6-8.]  FOX'S    LAST   ILLNESS.  79 

course  a  duel  could  not  be  prevented.  When  they 
got  to  the  ground,  Howorth  very  coolly  pulled  off  his 
coat  and  said :  '  My  lord,  having  been  a  surgeon  I 
know  that  the  most  dangerous  thing  in  a  wound  is 
having  a  piece  of  cloth  shot  into  it,  so  I  advise  you  to 
follow  my  example.'  The  peer,  I  believe,  despised 
such  low  professional  care,  and  no  harm  happened  to 
either  of  them." 

Six  months  had  not  gone  by  since  Pitt  breathed 
his  last,  when  the  health  of  his  great  rival.  Fox,  broke 
down.  He  appeared  for  the  last  time  in  the  House  of 
Commons  on  loth  June,  already  exceedingly  ill,  but 
determined  to  be  at  his  post  in  order  to  move  cer- 
tain resolutions  preparatory  to  the  bill  for  abolishing 
the  slave  trade.  This  he  accomplished,  and  the  bill 
giving  effect  to  these  resolutions  became  law  in  the 
following  3^ear  ;  but  by  that  time  Charles  Fox  was 
no  more.  He  lingered  till  13th  September,  1806,  and 
every  bulletin  during  his  last  illness  was  anxiously 
watched  for  and  canvassed  by  men  and  women  of 
both  parties  in  the  State.  Assuredly  no  public  man 
was  ever  better  beloved  than  Fox  on  account  of  his 
private  qualities.  Notwithstanding  that  his  great 
natural  abilities  suffered  damage,  and  his  energies 
were  diverted  and  impaired  by  his  excessive  convivi- 
ality and  love  of  gambling,  even  his  political  enemies 
could  not  help  loving  the  man.  Pitt's  haughtiness 
repelled ;  Fox's  simplicity  and  sweetness  of  address 
attracted  all  hearts.  Pitt's  talents  and  penetrating 
foresight  commanded  the  confidence  and  gratitude  of 
his  followers  ;  but  it  was  not  his  lot  to  secure  the 
passionate  affection,  approaching  to  idolatry,  which 
was  freely  given  to  Fox. 


80  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  IV. 

Mrs.  Creevey  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"July  lo,  1806. 

".  .  .   Hester*  and  Sheridan  dined  with  us  yester- 
day, as  well  as  Harry  Scott,  and  we  were  extremely 
sociable  and  agreeable  all  the  evening,  until  Lord  and 
Lady  Howick,t  General  Grey  and  Charlotte  Hughes 
added  to  our  party.     Poor  Charlotte  %  was  rather  '  in 
the  basket,'  for  you  know  Ogles  and  Greys  do  not 
take  much  pains  to  make  a  stranger  comfortable ;  but 
old    Sherry   with    his    usual    good    taste    was   very 
attentive   to   her.  .  .  .   Lord    Ho  wick   was    in    better 
spirits  and  very  amiable,  no  doubt  owing  to  his  im- 
proved  hopes   about   Mr.    Fox.      He   had   been   that 
morning   for   the   first   time   convinced   that   he   was 
materially  better,  both  from  the  opinion  of  Vaughan 
and  from  having  seen  him — that  his  looks  were  wonder- 
fully improved.     He  is  sure  his  body  and  legs  are 
lessened   and    Mr.    Fox   said   himself,   'whatever   my 
disease  has  been,  I  am  convinced  it  is  much  abated, 
and   I  think   1   shall   do  again.'  .  .  .  Lord   and    Lady 
Howick  and  the  General  went  away  before   12,  and 
then  Sherry,  who  had  been  very  good  at  dinner  and 
most   agreeable   all    the   evening,   seem'd   to   have   a 
little  hankering  after  a  broiled  bone  ...  so  in  due 
time  he  had  it." 


Mr.  Creevey  to  Dr.  Currie. 

"  1 2th  July. 

".  ,  .  Fox  is  a  great  deal  better  to-day  certainly 
than  he  has  ever  been  yet,  and  is  walking  about  in  his 
garden  ;  so  I  hope  to  G —  we  shall  all  do.  .  .  .  We 
had  a  devil  of  a  business  last  night  altogether.  We 
got  off  from  the  House  to  Sherry's  a  little  before  8 — 
about  14  of  us— without  him,  so  I  made  him  give  me 

*  The  2nd  Mrs.  Sheridan,  nee  Ogle. 

t  Sir  Charles  Grey  of  Howick  having  been  created  Earl  Grey  in 
this  year,  his  eldest  son  assumed  the  courtesy  title  of  Lord  Howick. 

X  Mrs.  Hughes  of  Kinmel,  whose  husband  was  created  Lord 
Dinorben  in  183 1. 


l8o6-8.]  SHERIDAN    JIBS.  8l, 

a  written  order  to  his  tzvo  cooks  to  serve  up  the  turtle 
in  his  absence,  which  they  did,  and  which  we  presently 
devoured.  In  the  midst  of  the  second  course,  a  black, 
sooty  kitchenmaid  rushed  into  the  room  screaming 
*  Fire  ! '  At  the  house  door  were  various  other  persons 
hallooing  to  the  same  purpose,  and  it  turned  out  to  be 
the  curtains  in  Mrs.  Sheridan's  dressing-room  in  a 
blaze,  which  Harry  Scott  had  presence  of  mind  to 
pull  down  by  force,  instead  of  joining  in  the  general 
clamour  for  buckets,  which  was  repeated  from  all  the 
box-keepers,  scene-shifters,  thief-takers,  and  sheriff's 
officers  who  were  performing  the  character  of  servants 
out  of  livery.  So  the  fire  was  extinguished,  with  some 
injury  to  Harry's  thumb. 

"  Half  an  hour  afterwards  we  were  summoned  to  a 
division  which  did  not  take  place  till  three,  and  another 
at  four.  Our  situation  in  the  House  was  as  precarious 
as  at  Sheridan's.  His  behaviour  was  infamous.*  .  .  . 
He  said  he  had  stayed  away  all  the  session  from  dis- 
approving all  our  military  measures,  and  finally  made 
a  motion  which,  if  the  Addingtonians  had  supported, 
would  have  left  us  in  a  minority.  .  .  .  Grey  made  one 
of  his  best  speeches,  full  of  honor,  courage  and  good 
faith — it  made  a  great  impression,  and  Sherry  was 
left  to  the  contempt  from  all  sides  he  so  justly  de- 
served. .  .  .  Prinneyfsent  McMahon  to  me  yesterday 
desiring  to  know  whether  I  would  induce  Tufnell  to 
withdraw  his  pretensions  to  Colchester.  He  was 
asked  to  make  this  request  to  me  by  Sir  Wm.  Smith, 

that of  a  fellow  you  may  remember  at  Brighton, 

and  who  himself  has  started.  But  I  returned  Prinney 
such  a  bill  of  fare  of  Tuffy's  merits  and  pretensions, 
that  I  have  no  doubt  old  Smith  in  his  turn  will  be 
asked  to  give  way." 

*  Sheridan  held  office  in  "  All  the  Talents "  as  Treasurer  of  the 
Nav>'  ;  but  he  declared  on  this  occasion  that  "he  was  sure  the  Cabinet 
would  never  look  to  him  for  the  subserviency  of  sacrificing  his  in- 
dependence of  opinion  to  any  consideration  of  office  ;  at  least,  if  ever 
they  should  so  expect,  they  would  be  disappointed  "  {^Hansai'd,  July  1 1 , 
1806]. 

t  The  Prince  of  Wales. 


82  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  IV. 

Mrs.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"15th  July. 
"...  I  am  returned  from  my  morning's  travels, 
but  they  were  sadly  shortened  by  going  first  to  the 
Admiralty  and  hearing  from  Lady  Howick  that  Hester 
[Mrs.  Sheridan]  was  not  well.  I  proceeded  to 
Somerset  House;  Mr.  Secretary*  got  into  the  coach 
in  Parliament  Street,  and  when  we  got  to  Somerset 
House,  we  found  Hester  so  well,  and  with  such  a  nice 
cold  chicken  and  tongue  before  her,  that  we  made  him 
get  out  of  the  coach  and  eat  with  us.  Then  I  had  only 
time  to  call  at  Mr.  Fox's,  who  continues  better.  .  .  . 
He  is  advised,  I  hear,  to  go  to  the  sea,  and  McMahon 
says  it  will  be  Brighton,  for  Prinney  has  offered  him 
one  of  his  houses,  and  presses  him  much  to  take  it. 
McMahon  says  he  will,  but  I  cannot  say  I  think  the 
dinners  at  the  Pavilion  will  be  good  for  him.  .  .  .  The 
offer,  I  think,  looks  as  if  Prin  thought  he  could  make 
up  the  quarrel  with  Mrs.  Fitzherbert,t  which  I  wish 
he  may,  but  you  know  he  docs  sometimes  fancy  he  can 
do  more  than  in  the  end  he  performs." 

"  30th  July. 

".  .  .  In  our  return  from  walking  in  the  Park  last 
night  at  10  o'clock  we  saw  the  Prince's  chariot  at  Mr. 
Fox's  door,  and  I  find  from  Mrs.  Bouverie  that  he 
stayed  a  long  time,  and  Mr.  Fox  was  not  fatigued  by 
it,  but  had  a  good  night.  .  .  .  She  has  not  seen  him 
for  some  days,  but  she  says  that  is  accident,  owing  to 
Lady  Holland  being  there  whom  he  ivill  not  see;  but 
she  plants  herself  in  one  of  the  rooms  below  stairs, 
under  pretence  of  waiting  for  Lord  Holland,  and  so 
prevents  his  admitting  any  other  woman." 

"  25th  August. 

".  .  .  Mr.  Creeveydinedyesterday  at  Lord  Cowper's. 
It  was  a  grand  dinner  after  the  christening  of  his  son, 
to  whom  the  Prince  stood  godfather.     The  ceremony 

*  Mr.  Creevey,  Secretary  to  the  Board  of  Controul. 
\  In  1806  the  Prince  fell  in  love  with  Lady  Hertford,  and  Mrs. 
Fitzherbert's  excellent  and  quasi-legitimate  influence  waned. 


i8o6-8].  HIGH    LIVING.  83 

was  going  on  in  one  drawing-room  when  Mr.  Creevey 
arrived.  After  it  was  over,  the  Prince,  on  coming 
into  the  room  where  the  rest  of  the  company  were 
assembled,  said :  '  Ho,  Creevey !  you  there,'  and 
sprang  across  the  room  and  shook  hands  with  him. 
When  he  sat  opposite  to  him  at  dinner  he  hardly 
spoke  to  anyone  else,  beginning  directly  with — '  Well, 
tell  me  now,  Creevey,  about  Mrs.  Creevey  and  the 
girls,  and  when  they  come  to  Brighton  ;'  and  on  hear- 
ing *  probably  in  October,'  he  said — '  Oh  delightful ! 
we  shall  be  so  comfortable,'  and  then  went  over  the 
old  stories  .  .  .  till,  as  Mr.  C.  says,  the  company  did 
not  know  very  well  what  to  make  of  it.  They  all 
adjourned  to  Melbourne  House  to  supper.  At  2  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  that  terrible  Sheridan  seduced  Mr, 
Creevey  into  Brookes,  where  they  stayed  till  4,  when 
Sherry  affectioyiatcly  came  home  with  him,  and  upstairs 
to  see  me.  They  were  both  so  very  merry,  and  so 
much  pleased  with  each  other's  jokes,  that,  though 
they  could  not  repeat  them  to  me  very  distinctly, 
I  was  too  much  amused  to  scold  them  as  they 
deserved." 

The  constant  bulletins  about  Fox,  which  it  is 
not  necessary  to  repeat,  continued  favourable  till 
9th  September,  when  the  dropsy  began  to  gain  ground 
upon  him.  But,  considering  how  the  letters  even  of 
this  amiable  and  accomplished  lady  are  pervaded  with 
the  fumes  of  wine  and  the  aroma  of  broiled  bones,  the 
marvel  is,  not  that  so  many  men  of  her  acquaintance 
suffered  in  their  health,  but  why  more  of  them  did  not 
bring  their  lives  prematurely  to  a  close  by  perpetual 
stuffing  and  swilling.  Wine  in  excess  was  not  only 
the  chief  cause  of  a  disordered  system,  but  it  was 
made  to  serve  as  the  invariable  remedy,  supple- 
mented by  the  free  use  of  the  lancet  and  by  drastic 
purges. 


84  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  IV. 

Mrs.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  12  Sept.,  1806, 

"...  I  am  going  to  Somerset  House  to  enquire 
after  poor  Sheridan,  who  went  from  this  house  very 
ill  at  12  o'clock  last  night.  .  .  .  He  complained  of  sore 
throat  and  shivering,  and  his  pulse  was  the  most 
frightful  one  I  ever  felt ;  it  was  so  tumultuous  and  so 
strong  that  when  one  touched  it,  it  seemed  not  only 
to  shake  his  arm,  but  his  whole  frame.  ...  I  lighted 
a  fire  and  a  great  many  candles,  and  Mr,  Creevey,  who 
was  luckily  just  come  home  from  Petty's,  began  to  tell 
him  stories.  .  .  .  Then  we  sent  for  some  wine,  of 
which  he  was  so  frightened  it  required  persuasion  to 
make  him  drink  six  small  glasses,  of  which  the  effect 
was  immediate  in  making  him  not  only  happier,  but 
composing  his  pulse.  ...  In  the  midst  of  his  dismals 
he  said  most  clever,  funny  things,  and  at  last  got  to 
describing  Mr,  Hare,  and  others  of  his  old  associates, 
with  the  hand  of  a  real  master,  and  made  one  lament 
that  such  extraordinary  talents  should  have  such 
numerous  allo3^s.  He  received  a  note  from  Lady 
Elizabeth  Forster,  with  a  good  account  of  Mr,  Fox. 
It  ended  with — 'try  to  drink  less  and  speak  the  truth,' 
He  was  very  funny  about  it  and  said  :  '  By  G-d !  I 
speak  more  truth  than  she  does,  however.'  Then  he 
told  us  how  she  had  cried  to  him  the  night  before, 
'  because  she  felt  it  her  severe  duty  to  be  Duchess  of 
Devonshire  ! '  * 

With  Fox  was  extinguished  the  brightest  of  "All 
the  Talents,"  The  administration  continued  during 
the  succeeding  winter,  but  when  the  King,  in  March, 
1807,  demanded  an  assurance  from  his  Ministers  that 
they  would  bring  in  no  measure  of  Roman  Catholic 
Relief,  Grenville,  who,  with  Pitt,  had  resigned  office 
in  1801   because  of  the  King's  determination  on  this 

*  The  Duchess  of  Devonshire  had  died  in  March  of  this  year. 
Lady  Elizabeth  married  the  Duke,  but  not  till  three  years  later,  in 
^809. 


i8o6-8.]        THE    PORTLAND   ADMINISTRATION.  85 

subject,  declined  to  continue  in  office  on  such  terms, 
and  the  Cabinet  resigned.  Some  of  his  colleagues 
disapproved  highly  of  this  course,  Sheridan  observing 
that  "  he  had  known  many  men  knock  their  heads 
against  a  wall,  but  he  had  never  before  heard  of  a  man 
collecting  bricks  and  building  a  wall  for  the  express 
purpose  of  knocking  out  his  own  brains  against  it." 
Probably  Mr.  Creevey  shared  this  view,  but  there  is 
an  almost  total  blank  in  his  correspondence  during 
the  year  which  brought  his  brief  tenure  of  office  to 
a  close.  The  coalition  of  parties  was  at  an  end,  and 
the  Duke  of  Portland  became  nominal  head  of  a  Tory 
Cabinet. 

Lord  Henry  Petty  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"Teignmouth,  Nov.  2nd,  1807. 

".  .  .  Altho' I  understand  that  Ld.  Wellesley  claims 
all  the  glory  of  the  Copenhagen  expedition,  I  think 
Ld.  Chatham's  negative  will  prevail  over  his  positive 
qualities,  and  that  he  will  be  the  minister  of  next  year. 
Archd.  Hamilton  writes  to  me  that  Melville  is  more 
than  ever  Minister  de  facto  in  Scotland,  and  that  a 
year's  fasting  has  so  sharpened  the  appetites  of  his 
followers,  that  not  a  chaise  is  to  be  got  on  any  of  the 
roads  which  lead  to  Dunira,  so  numerous  are  the 
solicitors  and  expectants  that  attend  his  court. 

"Dartmouth  harbour — a  beautiful  basin — exhibits 
a  curious  spectacle  at  present.  The  flags  of  Portugal 
and  Denmark  flying  on  board  at  least  twelve  or  four- 
teen detained  ships  of  both  nations,  the  crews  of  which 
are  maintained  by  Govt.  ...  I  am  now  an  inhabitant 
of  New  Burlington  Street,  but  a  letter  directed 
London  will  be  sure  to  find  me." 

The  year  1808  was  perhaps  the  most  momentous 
of  the  century  to  the  destiny  of  Great  Britain.  Not 
many  months  before  his  death  Pitt  had  laid  his  finger 
on  the  map  of  Spain  as  the  only  part  of  the  Continent 


m  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  IV. 

where   a   successful    stand    might   be    made   against 
Napoleon.     But  Spain  was  allied  with  France  as  the 
foe  of  England,  and  since  Pitt's  death  the  idea  had 
been  entertained  by  Portland's  Cabinet  of  assisting 
the  South  American  colonies  of  Spain   in   a  revolt 
against  the  mother  country.    A  certain  young  general, 
Sir  Arthur  Wellesley,   who   had  won    considerable 
renown  in  India,  and,  on  returning  to  this  country, 
had  [entered   Parliament  for  the  express  purpose  of 
defending   his  brother,  Marquess  Wellesley,  against 
the    attacks    upon    his    administration    as    Viceroy, 
happened   to  be   Secretary  for   Ireland  at  this  time. 
He  had  retained   that  responsible  office  while  com- 
manding a  division  under  Lord  Cathcart  in  the  suc- 
cessful but  inglorious  Copenhagen  campaign  of  1807. 
Sir  Arthur,  then,  in  the  spring  of  1808,  was  directed  to 
confer  with  General  Miranda,  emissary  of  the  revolu- 
tionary party  in  Spanish  South  America,  and  to  pre- 
pare plans  for  an  expedition  to  support  the  rebellion 
there.     Such  plans  Wellesley  prepared,:makingoutin 
his  own  handwriting  lists  of  all  the  stores  required, 
down  to  the  very  number  of  flints  required  for  small 
arms.      Nevertheless,  he  disapproved   of  the  policy 
of  this  projected  expedition.     "  I  have  always  had  a 
horror,"  he  afterwards  said  to  Lord  Mahon,  "  of  re- 
volutionising any  country   for  a   political  object.     I 
always   said — if  they   rise   of  themselves,  well   and 
good,  but  do  not  stir  them  up  ;  it  is  a  fearful  respon- 
sibility."     Moreover,   in   the    concluding    paragraph 
of  his  memorandum.   Sir  Arthur   could   not  refrain 
from   alluding  pointedly  to   "  the    manner  in   which 
Napoleon's  armies    are    now  spread  in    all   parts  of 
Europe,"  and  asking  pointedly  whether  it  was  impos- 
sible to  operate  against  him  in  the  Old  World,  rather 


i8o6-8.]  ALLIANCE  WITH   SPAIN.  87 

than  undertake  speculative  projects  in  the  New.  If 
possible,  said  he,  it  is  ''an  opportunity  which  ought 
not  to  be  passed  by."  * 

Fortunately  affairs  took  a  sudden  turn  which,  by 
ranging  Spain  alongside  of  her  ancient  enemy  Great 
Britain  in  the  struggle  with  Napoleon,  brought 
Ministers  to  the  views  of  the  dead  Pitt  and  the 
future  Duke  of  Wellington.  The  rulers  of  Spain 
had  proved  both  corrupt  and  incompetent  ;  her 
armies,  commanded  by  ignorant  and  vain  aristo- 
crats, were  utterly  unfit  to  take  the  field  against 
Napoleon's  marshals ;  yet  the  ancient  spirit  still 
burned  in  the  hearts  of  her  people.  In  the  month  of 
May  news  came  to  England  that  the  Spaniards  had 
risen  in  revolt  against  the  French.  Nine  thousand 
troops  lay  at  Cork,  ready  to  embark  for  South 
America,  there  to  aid  in  overturning  the  government 
of  the  King  of  Spain  in  his  colonies.  At  the  beginning 
of  June,  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley,  being  still  Secretary 
for  Ireland,  was  sent  to  take  command  of  these,  to 
sail  with  them  to  Spain,  there  to  aid  in  restoring  the 
King  of  Spain's  authority  in  his  home  dominions.  A 
strange  piece  of  scene-shifting,  opening,  as  it  did,  the 
long  and  tremendous  drama  of  the  Peninsular  war. 

Creevey's  correspondence  continues  extremely 
fragmentary  during  this  exciting  period.  Such  letters 
as  remain  betray  the  growing  bitterness  of  party 
spirit  and  the  intense  impatience  of  the  extreme 
members  of  the  Opposition,  of  whom  Creevey  was 
one,  with  Lord  Grenville,  who,  though  not  a  Whig, 
could  no  longer  be  reckoned  as  a  Tory,  and  with  the 
more  responsible  and  moderate  Whigs,  who,  like  Lord 
Grey,  were   not   prepared  to   push   the   interests  of 

*  Wellington's  Supplementary  Despatches^  vi.  82. 


88  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  IV. 

party  before  those  of  the  country.  Creevey's  leader 
at  this  time  was  Samuel  Whitbread,  a  man  of  un- 
blemished character,  absolute  honesty,  and  consider- 
able debating  power,  but  one  who  did  not  shrink 
from  the  responsibility  of  hampering  and  thwarting 
Ministers,  even  when  the  safety  of  the  Empire  seemed 
at  stake.  He  opposed  to  the  utmost  the  war  policy 
of  the  Government,  and  was  specially  hostile  to  the 
Wellesleys — both  the  Marquess  and  Sir  Arthur. 

Samuel  Whitbread,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Southill,  Ap.  1 8,  1808. 
".  .  .  Whatever  some  squeamish  voters  in  the  Ho. 
of  Commons  may  think  and  wish,  the  publick  will  not 
be  satisfied  without  the  active  pursuit  of  Melville,  and 
I  shall  not  be  inclined  to  make  any  compromise  with 
shabbiness.  It's  a  pleasant  circumstance,  amongst 
others,  that  the  Admiralt3^  cannot  be  disposed  of.  .  .  ." 

"Margate,  June  29,  1808. 
".  ,  .  The  insurrection  [in  Spain  against  the 
French]  has  taken  a  much  greater  degree  of  method 
and  consistency  than  I  had  expected,  and  the  accession 
of  two  such  persons  as  Filanqueri  and  Sovilliano  is  of 
the  utmost  importance.  God  send  them  successful ! 
and  we  ought  and  must  give  them  every  possible 
assistance  ;  but  I  dread  the  account  of  the  first  conflict 
between  the  French  army  and  this  patriotic  band.  It 
is  the  business  of  the  Patriots  to  avoid  it,  and  that  of 
Bonaparte  to  seek  it  as  soon  as  possible.  .  .  .  You 
have  asked  me  two  or  three  times  for  my  speculations 
upon  another  session  ?  Will  you  be  so  good  as  to 
give  me  yours  ?  and  as  I  wish  to  be  master  of  the 
E[ast]  I[ndia]  subject  by  the  autumn,  be  so  good  as  to 
point  out  to  me  a  course  of  reading." 

Wellesley's  expedition  sailed  from  Cork  on  15th 
June ;  before  the  end  of  September  the  only  French 
troops  left  in  Portugal  were  the  garrisons  of  Elvas 


i8o6-S.]  THE   CONVENTION    OF   CINTRA.  89 

and  Almeida;  General  Junot,  with  a  beaten  army  of 
26,000  men,  had  been  conveyed  in  British  ships  to 
Rochelle ;  the  Russian  Admiral  Siniavin  had  sur- 
rendered his  whole  fleet  in  the  Tagus  to  Sir  Charles 
Cotton.  Such  were  the  conditions  of  the  famous 
Convention  of  Cintra,  forced  upon  the  French  by  the 
victorious  little  army  under  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley. 
Yet  was  the  nation  almost  unanimous  in  demanding 
his  degradation,  if  not  his  death,  with  that  of  the  two 
generals  who  successively  took  command  over  his 
head.  They  were  even  blamed  in  the  King's  Speech 
from  the  Throne  for  "acceding  to  the  terms  of  the 
Convention."  The  sagacious  Whitbread  and  his  friends 
found  solace  in  the  discomfiture  of  the  Wellesleys. 

Samttel  Whitbread,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Bounds,  near  Tunbridge,  Sept.  25th,  1808. 

"...  I  conclude  the  same  sentiment  prevails  all 
over  the  country  respecting  the  Portuguese  con- 
vention. Cobbet's  dissertation  upon  it  is  excellent, 
tho'  it  by  no  means  explains,  nor  can  anything  explain, 
the  mystery.  I  grieve  for  the  opportunity  that  has 
been  lost  of  acquiring  national  glory,  but  am  not 
sorry  to  see  the  Wellesley  pride  a  little  lowered.  .  .  ." 

Wm.  Cohbett''  to  Lord  Folkestone,  M.P.\ 

"9  Oct.,  1808. 
"My  Lord, 

"  Thank   you  kindly   for  both   your   letters. 
It  is,  indeed,  a  damned  thing  that  Wellesley  J  should 

*  Ex-sergeant-majorandpublisher  of  thewell-knoAvn  Weekly  Politi- 
cal Register,  which  began  in  1802.  He  was  elected  member  for  Old- 
ham to  the  first  reformed  Parliament. 

t  Afterwards  3rd  Earl  of  Radnor  ;  Radical  M.P.  for  Salisbury 
from  1802  to  1828  :  died  in  1869. 

%  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley,  whose  share  in  the  Convention  of  Cintra 
had  been  sent  before  a  Court  of  Inquiry, 


90  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  IV. 

give  the  lie  direct  to  the  protesting  part  of  the  state- 
ment of  his  friends.  How  the  devil  will  they  get  over 
this?  Now  we  have  the  rascals  upon  the  hip.  It  is 
evident  that  he  was  the  prime  cause — the  only  cause — 
of  all  the  mischief,  and  that  from  the  motive  of  thwart- 
ing everything  after  he  ivas  superseded.  Thus  do  we 
gay  for  the  arrogance  of  that  damned  infernal  family, 
ut  it  all  comes  at  last  to  the  House  of  Commons.  The 
corruptions  of  that  infamous  [?  place]  sent  them  out,* 
and  we  are  justly  punished.  .  .  ." 

Capt.  Graham  Moore,  R.N.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

''^Marlborough,  Rio  Janeiro,  Oct.  nth,  1808. 

".  .  .  My  whole  heart  and  soul  is  with  the 
Spaniards,  and  I  hope  and  trust  we  shall  support 
them  and  fight  for  them  to  the  uttermost.  .  .  .  This 
great  event  in  Spain  must  of  course  put  a  stop  to  any 
plan  we  may  have  had  to  emancipate  the  Spanish 
Colonies.  ...  I  hope  Bonoparte  has  now  enough  on 
his  hands  without  thinking  of  invading  England.  He 
has  overshot  his  mark,  and,  I  have  great  hopes,  has 
done  for  himself  However,  he  will  die  game.  ...  I 
am  very  anxious  to  hear  of  my  brother  Jack  t  coming 
into  play.  I  daresay  he  will  have  some  Right  Honble. 
Torpedo  set  over  him  to  counteract  his  fire  and 
genius ;  but  in  spite  of  the  Devil,  he  is  invaluable 
wherever  he  is,  and  the  soldiers  know  that.  .  .  ." 

Samuel  IVhitbread,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

*'  Southill,  20  Dec,  1808. 

"My  dear  Creevey, 

"  To  the  usual  occupations  of  hanging  Mad 
Dogs,  swearing  Bastards,  convicting  Poachers,  and 
such  like  country  performances,  has  been  added  the 
amusement  of  Hunting,  which  I  have  resumed  to  the 
great  benefit  of  my  health,  and  the  complete  fitgitation 
I  hope,  of  all  critical  Deposits  in  consequence  of  high 

*  Referring  to  the  Indian  appointments  held  respectively  by 
the  Marquess  Wellesley  and  his  brother  Sir  Arthur,  and  to  the  first 
Peninsular  expedition  of  the  latter. 

t  General  Sir  John  Moore.  , 


ADMlkAI.    SIR    (ik  Ml  \\1     .M()()ki-;. 


\_To  face  p.  90. 


l8o6-8.]     MR.   WHITBREAD    UNBOSOMS    HIMSELF.         91 

living.  Besides,  we  have  had  a  House  pretty  full  of 
Company,  amongst  which  have  been  the  Lady  Grey 
and  Lady  Hannah ;  so  you  will  perceive  with  half  an 
eye  that,  however  acceptable  your  letter,  as  it  really 
and  truly  was,  you  had  but  little  chance  of  receiving 
any  answer,  till  the  frost  came  and  locked  up  my  Play- 
things. Now  I  can  find  a  moment  to  thank  you  for  it, 
and  to  ask  for  a  continuation  of  your  sentiments, 
both  which  I  do  with  unaffected  sincerity.  I  value 
your  opinion,  and  you  are  one  of  the  very  few 
Persons  who  will  say  what  you  think  of  me  to 
myself.     I  hope  I  deserve  to  be  so  treated. 

"  You  mix  more  with  the  World  in  general  than 
I  am  enabled  to  do  from  particular  circumstances, 
and  I  believe  you  have  the  good  of  the  Country  at 
Heart.  I  further  believe  that  you  are  interested  in 
my  Reputation.  I  acknowledge  that  in  the  course  of 
the  last  Session  of  Parliament,  I  ma^''  have  dwelt  too 
much  and  too  often  upon  topicks  which  are  not 
generally  interesting,  because  they  are  not  generally 
understood,  and  I  am  quite  aware  that  I  may  have 
spoken  both  too  often  and  too  much  ;  but  you  con- 
firm the  feeling  I  before  had  that  the  Result  of  my 
Parliamentary  Campaign  was  not  injurious  to  my 
Fame,  and  1  have  heard  from  friends  and  foes  the 
agreeable  Truth  which  on  that  score  you  repeat  to 
me.  I  shall  go  to  the  House  of  Commons  to  the 
coming  Session  with  feelings  very  different  from 
those  which  I  carried  there  last  January.  You 
know  that  I  was  then  piqued.  I  was  not  certainly 
ambitious  of  being  placed  nominally  at  the  Head  of  a 
Party  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  really  to  be  the 
Slave  of  a  Party  in  the  House  of  Lords  ;  but  I  had 
been  ambitious  of  being  thought  the  fit  Person  in  all 
essentials  to  fill  the  vacant  Place.  By  the  Person 
who  had  [illegible]  held  it  with  so  much  Dignity  and 
Reputation,*  that  Ambition  had  been  disappointed. 
I  had  closed  my  Conference  by  saying — '  We  shall 
all  find  our  Level ; '  and  however  unconscious  of  it  at 
the  time,  I  daresay  I  was  actuated  by  a  desire  to 
show  that  my  level,  at  least  in  the  present  generation, 
was   not   very   low.     If  what  you   say   be   true,  my 

*  Right  Hon.  George  Ponsonby  [1755- 1817]. 


92  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  IV. 

gratification  on  that  score  is  complete.  I  am  no 
Candidate  for  the  Lead  :  I  have  what  I  wanted.  It 
is  said  I  ought  to  have  been  the  Leader,  and  nothing 
should  tempt  me  to  take  the  place,  because  I  know 
on  many  accounts  I  ought  not  to  be  Leader,  and 
ought  never  to  have  been  the  Leader.  So  much  for 
that. 

"  I  am  fully  aware  of  the  apathy  of  the  Publick 
and  of  their  indifference  towards  the  proceedings  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  and  of  their  Distrust  of  all 
Publick  Men  ;  and  I  cannot  but  agree  with  you  that 
poor  Fox  did  overset  the  Publick  opinion  with  regard 
to  Statesmen.  The  last  administration  completed 
the  job.  Still,  whilst  I  have  a  seat  in  Parliament,  and 
can  obtain  a  hearing,  I  cannot  help  proceeding  as  if 
I  thought  the  World  would  give  me  credit  for  the 
Purity  of  my  Motives.  The  tone  you  propose  to  me 
to  adopt  in  the  ensuing  session  I  will  certainly  attend 
to  with  assiduity,  and  altho'  I  think  in  every  point, 
both  internal  and  external,  our  situation  is  nearly  as 
forlorn  and  hopeless  as  any  that  ever  was  imagined 
by  the  most  gloomy  Politician,  I  will  endeavour  to 
act  as  if  the  case  were  not  desperate — as  if  the 
corrupted  and  corruptors  would  be  brought  to  a 
sense  of  Duty,  and  to  see  the  Necessity  of  Retrench- 
ment and  Reform. 

"  I  have  written  a  shameful  deal  about  myself,  but 
as  your  letter  was  expressly  on  that  subject,  you  must 

fardon  me  :  and  as  it  is  for  you  alone  that  I  write, 
am  not  afraid  of  sarcastical  animadversion.  .  .  ." 


(     93     ) 


CHAPTER    V. 

1809. 

Canning  and  Castlereagh,  hitherto  at  one  in  maintain- 
ing the  Continental  policy  of  Pitt,  fell  at  issue  in  1809 
as  to  the  best  means  of  carrying  the  same  into  effect. 
The  seeds  of  their  difference  had  been  sown  in  the 
dispute  about  the  Convention  of  Cintra.  Canning,  as 
Foreign  Secretary,  advocated  a  concentration  of  the 
whole  military  forces  of  Britain  upon  the  liberation 
of  Spain ;  Castlereagh,  at  the  War  Office,  listened  to 
expert  advisers  who  had  been  damped  by  the  retreat 
and  death  of  Sir  John  Moore,  and  was  urgent  for 
creating  diversions  in  other  parts  of  Europe.  Castle- 
reagh had  his  way,  with  the  result,  among  others, 
that  the  most  powerful  expedition  that  had  ever 
sailed  from  England — 40,000  troops  and  a  splendid 
fleet  with  as  many  seamen  and  marines  —  were 
lamentably  sacrificed  in  the  swamps  of  Walcheren 
Island  through  the  incompetence  of  their  general ; 
while  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley  sailed  in  April  to  assume 
command  in  a  second  Peninsular  campaign.  Great 
was  the  fury  of  the  anti-war  party  in  Parliament  by 
reason  of  this  resuscitation  of  the  hated  Wellesleys, 
but  not  greater  than  their  rage  at  Lord  Grenville, 
who,  although  he  had  acted  with  the  Opposition  until 
now,  refused  to  be  drawn  into  an  unpatriotic  line  of 


94  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  V. 

conduct,  or  at  Grey,  Tierney,  and  other  Whigs  who 
showed  scruples  at  embarrassing  the  Government  in 
their  operations. 

Samuel  Whitbread,  M.P.j  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Southill,  Jan.  ii,  1809. 

"  Dear  Creevey, 

"Your  letter  reached  me  at  Woburn  Abbey 
amidst  rows,  festivities  and  masquerades.  ...  By  all 
I  can  collect  from  the  Duke  of  Bedford  and  Fitz- 
Patrick  it  is  not  the  desire  of  Ponsonby  and  the  wise 
heads  in  London  that  any  great  effort  should  be  made 
for  an  attendance.  ...  I  have  heard  from  Tierney 
since  I  saw  you.  He  seems  in  flat  despair  about 
any  effect  to  be  produced  by  our  exertions  in  Parlt. 
the  ensuing  session,  and  I  am  told  that  he  wishes  to 
abstain  from  active  attendance  altogether.  I  do  not 
believe  that  any  persons  join  with  him  in  this  feeling. 
I  am  sure  I  do  not.  It  would  be  as  unwise  as  im- 
practicable to  be  seen  and  not  heard  in  the  House  of 
Commons ;  and  as  his  plan  does  not  go  the  whole 
length  of  secession,  it  will  amount  in  practice  to 
nothing  at  all.  .  .  .  Lord  Grenville  intends  to  come 
down  on  the  first  day  and  make  a  general  attack: 
after  that,  he  does  not  at  present  mean  to  follow  the 
matter  up  with  the  assiduity  he  displayed  last  year 
in  the  House  of  Lords,  nor,  indeed,  in  the  absence  of 
Grey  and  Holland,  could  it  be  expected.  ...  I  will 
only  add  for  myself,  that  I  have  the  greatest  respect 
for  Ld.  Grenville,  but  that  that  respect  would  in 
no  way  prevent  my  taking  any  line  I  thought  the 
right  one.  .  .  ." 

"  Southill,  March  31,  1809. 

".  .  .  Do  pray  tell  me  what  is  said  about  things  in 
general,  and  in  particular  about  myself,  for  I  fear  I 
am  but  roughly  handled  in  a  part  of  the  world  just 
now.  .  .  .  What  do  you  think  of  the  Westminster 
meeting?  I  cannot  say  how  much  I  was  surprized 
by  Burdett's  unprovoked  attack  upon  the  great 
agriculturists,  who  are,  almost  without  exception, 
real  friends  of  Liberty  and  Reform — none  more  so 


i8o9.]  WALCHEREN.  95 

than  the  head  of  them,  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  who 
thinks  parliamentary  reform  indispensably  necessary 
to  our  existence.  ...  I  am  to-day  working  hard  at 
the  local  Militia;  to-morrow  I  intend  to  go  fox- 
hunting, and  on  Sunday  I  hope  to  be  regaled  by  an 
answer  from  you.  .  .  ." 


Capt.  Graham  Moore,  R.N.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  London,  July  i8th,  1809. 

".  .  .  The  [Walcheren]  expedition  is  expected  to 
sail  this  week.  The  Naval  part  of  it  is  well  com- 
manded. Strachan  is  one  of  those  in  our  service 
whom  I  estimate  the  highest.  I  do  not  believe  he 
has  his  fellow  among  the  Admirals,  unless  it  be 
Pellew,  for  ability,  and  it  is  not  possible  to  have  more 
zeal  and  gallantry." 

"  Brook  Farm,  Cobham,  Surrey,  Sept.  19th,  1809. 
"  I  go  back  to  my  ship  on  the  21st  at  Portsmouth, 
where  she  arrived  from  the  Scheldt  with  a  .cargo  of 
sick.  I  expect  to  go  with  her  there,  as  we  are  to 
continue  under  the  command  of  Sir  Richard  Strachan,* 
and  as  there  are  200  of  her  seamen  still  there  in  the 
gunboats,  &:c.  It  is  my  wish  to  serve  with  Strachan, 
as  I  know  him  to  be  extremely  brave  and  full  of  zeal 
and  ardour,  at  the  same  time  that  he  is  an  excellent 
seaman,  and,  tho*  an  irregular,  impetuous  fellow, 
possessing  very  quick  parts  and  an  uncommon  share 
of  sagacity  and  strong  sense.  I  hope  Walcheren  will 
be  evacuated  before  we  lose  any  more  of  our  invalu- 
able men.  .  .  .  The  Cannings  are  in  a  damned 
dilemma  with  this  expedition  and  the  victory  of 
Talavera.  They  mean,  I  understand,  to  saddle  poor 
Lord  Chatham  with  the  first,  but  who  can  they  saddle 
the  victory  with  ?  They  dare  not  attack  the  Wel- 
lesleys  as  they  did  my  poor  brother.f  What  a  cursed 
set  you  all  are  !  I  certainly  far  prefer  your  set,  but 
your  set  bungled  miserably.  However  you  are  a 
more   manly  and  gentlemanly  set   of  bunglers  and 

*  Moore,  as  a  Scot,  spells  Sir  Richard's  name  more  Scoiico. 
t  Sir  John  Moore. 


96  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  V. 

jobbers  than  the  self-sufficient,  chattering,  intriguing 
Cannings.  ...  I  wish  Parliament  were  met,  for  1 
long  to  see  these  fellows  forced  from  their  seats. 
As  to  peace,  I  can  see  no  prospect  of  it  as  long  as 
Bonoparte  exists  ;  and  I  believe,  for  our  comfort,  he 
is  a  cursed  temperate,  hardy  knave,  in  mind  and 
body.  .  .  ." 

On  2 1  St  September  the  quarrel  between  Castle- 
reagh  and  Canning  culminated  in  a  duel,  involving 
the  resignation  of  both  Ministers.  Lord  Wellesley 
was  recalled  from  Spain  to  succeed  Canning  at  the 
Foreign  Office,  and  Lord  Liverpool  took  Castlereagh's 
place  at  the  War  Office.  Another  change  shortly 
afterwards  was  the  replacement  of  the  Duke  of 
Portland  at  the  head  of  the  Government  by  Mr. 
Perceval. 

Lord  Folkestone,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Brooks's,  Sept.  21,  1809. 

"  Dear  Creevey, 

"  I  cannot  help  writing  to  tell  you  what  a 
curious  scene  is  going  on  here.  Old  Portland  is  going 
both  out  of  the  Ministry  and  out  of  the  world — both 
very  soon,  and  it  is  doubtful  which  first;  but  the 
doubt  arises  from  the  difficulty  of  finding  a  new 
Premier,  though  both  Perceval  and  Canning  have 
offered  themselves.  Mulgrave  is  going  too,  they  say 
— Castlereagh  is  quite  gone,  and  Canning  too,  and  the 
latter  well  nigh  this  morning  quitted  this  sublunary 
globe,  as  well  as  the  Foreign  Office,  for  his  friend 
Castlereagh  on  Wimbledon  Common  about  7  o'clock 
this  morning  as  neatly  as  possible  sent  a  pistol  bullet 
through  the  fleshy  part  of  his  thigh.  These  heroes 
have  quarrelled  and  fought  about  the  Walcheren 
affair — Castlereagh  damning  the  execution  *  of  Lord 
Chatham,  and  Canning  the  plan  of  the  planner,  and 
being  Lord  Chatham's  champion.  Lord  Chatham's 
friends,  too,  say  that  he  is  not  at  all  to  blame,  that  he 

*  I.e.  the  performance. 


iSog.]  CASTLEREAGH    FIGHTS   CANNING.  97 

has  a  complete  case  against  Castlereagh,  and  further, 
that  Sir  Richard  Strahan  has  made  him  amende 
honorable,  saying  that  he  meant  by  his  letter  to 
insinuate  no  blame  against  him,  and  that  he  is  ready 
to  say  so  whenever  and  wherever  called  upon  to  do 
so,*  On  the  other  hand,  Castlereagh's  friends  are 
furious  too — say  that  never  man  was  so  ill-used,  and 
that  he  never  will  have  any  more  connexion  with  his 
present  colleagues. 

"Lord  Yarmouth  was  Castlereagh's  second  — 
Charles  Ellis  t  Canning's.  Castlereagh  was  not 
touched;  Canning's  wound  is  likely  to  be  very  tedious 
— not  dangerous.  In  the  meantime,  every  official 
arrangement  is  at  a  stand,  or  at  least  quite  unknown 
and  the  whole  thing  appears  in  utter  confusion. 
Mother  Cole  J  in  vain  shows  himself  all  day  long  in 
St.  James's  Street;  the  Whigs  are  thought  of  by  no 
one  ;  the  Doctor  §  cries  '  off,'  and  the  King  has  not  yet 
sent  for  Wardle  ||  or  Burdett.  I  really  think  that  any 
one  might  be  a  minister  for  asking  for  it — Mr.  Lee 
(the  spokesman  at  Covent  Garden)  as  well  as  another; 
and  if  they  do  not  take  care,  it  will  come  to  this.  If 
Nobbs  IF  does  not,  the  Mob  will,  name  the  Minister, 
and  then — why  not  Mr.  Lee?  The  scene  would  be 
diverting,  if  it  did  not  look  so  serious ;  but,  I  protest, 
I  begin  to  think  it  alarming,  considering  that  guineas 
at  Winchester  have  passed  for  225.  in  paper. 

"  In  the  meantime,  the  diversions  of  Covent  Garden 
go  on  bravely.  The  people  behave  well,  and  I  hope 
they  will  beat  the  damned  Managers.  The  Magis- 
trates there,  as  usual,  behaved  shamefully,  and 
endeavoured   to   excite   a   riot,  but   did  not   succeed. 

*  "The  Earl  of  Chatham,  with  sword  drawn, 
Stood  waiting  for  Sir  Richard  Strahan  ; 
Sir  Richard,  longing  to  be  at  'em, 
Stood  waiting  for  the  Earl  of  Chatham." 

t  Charles  Rose  Ellis,  M. P.  [177 1-1845], created  Lord  Seaford  in  1826. 

X  Mr.  Tierney. 

§  Lord  Sidmouth. 

II  Colonel  Wardle,  M.P.,  who  led  the  attack  upon  the  Duke  of 
York  in  the  affair  of  Mrs.  Clarke,  which  cost  His  Royal  Highness  his 
office  as  Commander-in-Chief. 

H  George  III. 

H 


98  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  V 

Princess  Amelia*  is   dying   at   Weymouth,    and   the 
Prince  is  not  likely  (I  hear)  to  live  long. 

"  I  think  I  have  exhausted  my  budget  of  news. 
Remember  me  to  the  ladies  and  believe  me — 

"  Truly  yours, 

"  Folkestone." 


C.  C.  Western,  M.P.,\  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Felix  Hall,  Sept.  24,  1809. 

"...  I  wish  that  3'-ou  may  persist  in  your  literary 
pursuits  and  particularly  directed  as  they  have  to  a 
comparative  view  of  the  conduct  and  character  of 
modern  statesmen  with  men  of  better  times.  By 
Heavens !  the  contrast  is  too  disgusting.  I  know  as 
little  of  history,  even  of  my  own  country,  as  any 
gentleman  need  do,  but  it  is  impossible  not  to  pick 
up  enough  to  see  and  admire  to  an  excess  the  sense 
and  spirit  of  the  old  patriots,  and  certainly  we  have 
proof  enough  of  the  present  men  to  make  one  dead 
sick  at  the  very  thoughts  of  them.  .  .  .  The  duel !  by 
the  Lord,  this  surpasses  everything.  I  have  no  doubt 
Canning  was  the  aggressor,  for  the  fellow  is  mad — 
evinced  his  insanity  more  than  once  last  year.  I 
delight  in  this  duel.  It  is  demonstration  of  the 
EFFICIENCY  of  our  Couucils.  Here  is  an  Administration 
— the  Kings  Ozvn ;  the  entire  army  is  their  sacrifice — 
the  national  character  and  safety  too — and  yet  the 
Country  quite  passive.  It  is  really  too  much  to  bear. 
And  we  are  to  have  a  Jubilee !  It  surpasses  all  imagi- 
nation. I  am  expecting  this  loyal  County  to  proclaim 
a  subscription  to  illuminate,  &c.  I  cannot  really 
submit  to  it,  though  I  shall  be  branded  as  a  traitor. 
Do  you  think  it  could  be  morally  justifiable  to  carry 
one's  hypocrisy  and  acquiescence  so  far  as  to  concurr 
in  ever  so  cold  a  manner  on  such  a  diabolical  measure. 
Let  me  hear  from  you  in  these  extraordinary  events. . . ." 

*  Youngest  and  favourite  daughter  of  George  III.,  whose  madness 
was  finally  confirmed  by  sorrow  for  her  death  in  18 10. 

t  Charles  Callis  Western  [i  767-1 844],  commonly  known  as  Squire 
Western,  was  42  years  in  Parliament,  a  staunch  Protectionist,  though 
a  Whig,  and  champion  of  the  agricultural  interest.  In  1833  he  was 
raised  to  the  peerage  as  Baron  Western  of  Rivenhall. 


1809.]  WHITBREAD    ON   THE    SITUATION.  99 

Samuel  Whitbread,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Southill,  Nov.  8,  1809. 

"...  I  am  not  surprised  at  people  shaping  towards 
Canning,  because,  as  our  friend  Wilberforce  shrewdly 
observes,  he   and  I  have  been  long   enough   in   the 

Folitical  world  not  to  be  surprised  at  anything;  but 
know  that  those  who  shall  trust  a  politician  of  that 
stamp,  deserve  to  be  betrayed  and  will  have  their 
deserts.  I  hope  at  least  I  shall  so  conduct  myself  as 
to  deserve  the  approbation  and  support  of  the  worthy 
part  of  the  community.  .  .  .  The  Earl  of  Essex,  Lord 
Carrington  and  Mr.  Giles  are  here,  and  the  D.  of 
Bedford,  and  the  above-named  noblesse  approve 
Southill.  .  .  .  Mr.  Adkin  is  in  good  health  and  trying 
ever  and  anon  to  repeat  the  stories  he  heard  from 
you  when  shooting  together,  in  which  he  does 
not  always  succeed.  Owen  Williams  is  come  to 
Bedford,  is  invited  to  Southill  and  has  accepted  the 
invitation.  I  am  not  a  little  amused  with  the  liberty 
given  to  the  Emperor  of  Austria  to  cut  brushwood  in 
certain  forests  which  are  taken  from  him,  together 
with  other  large  territories,  and  I  should  very  much 
have  liked  to  have  been  at  the  stag  hunt  at  Fontaine- 
bleau.  .  .  ." 


£> 


"  Southill,  Nov.  10,  I  og. 
".  .  .  Tom  Adkin,  who  went  to  Bedford  yesterday 
to  meet  his  friend  Williams  at  Palmer's,  was  the  first 
person  who  told  us  of  the  King's  letter  to  Perceval. 
Notwithstanding  the  awful  presence  of  the  Duke  and 
the  other  Lords,  he  had  got  very  drunk,  and  in  his 
drunkenness  he  related  this  story,  which  he  prefaced, 
as  usual,  by  saying  he  had  a  fact  to  relate ;  which  fact 
everybody  laughed  at ;  but  the  next  morning  Lord 
Carrington  showed  me  a  letter  from  Horner,  in  which 
the  same  story  is  told  very  circumstantially,  and  his 
lordship  was  very  much  surprized  that  what  was  said 
by  Mr.  Adkin  *in  that  wild  way'  should  turn  out  to 
be  true.  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  is  so,  but  the  madness 
and  folly  of  Perceval  is  inconceivable.  Does  he  quite 
forget  the  narrow  escape  his  administration  had  at 
starting    from    the   mess   made   of    Canning's    trial  ? 


lOO  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  V. 

Tierney  had  not  seen  the  letter  when  he  was  here,  or, 
if  he  had,  he  was  silent  about  it.  Neither  did  he 
mention  to  us  Perceval's  letter  to  the  D.  of  Northum- 
berland, altho'  there  was  some  discussion  about  the 
Earl  Percy's  taking  a  seat  at  the  Treasury  Board. 

"...  I  delight  in  the  stoutness  of  Lord  Holland  :  I 
believe  him  to  have  principles  and  to  be  capable  of 
conduct  worthy  of  his  name :  but  he  is  hampered. 
It  is  a  most  fortunate  circumstance  that  Canning  has 
given  mortal  offence  at  Holland  House.  The  wounds 
are  deep,  and  I  hope  incurable.  .  .  .  You  will  hear 
Martyn's  language  from  many  mouths — great  lamenta- 
tion at  our  not  hanging  together.  I  shall  be  still  the 
person  blamed ;  but  do  you  think  in  the  present  state 
of  affairs  that  if  either  Lord  Henr}''  Petty  or  Lord 
George  Cavendish  were  to  be  acknowledged  by  me 
as  leader  in  the  House  of  Commons  there  would  be 
a  chance  of  keeping  a  party  together?  Should  I  not 
lose  all  power  in  one  way  and  gain  nothing  in  the 
other?  Should  I  not  bind  myself  to  a  compact  I 
could  not  keep  ?  Should  I  not  at  every  turn  be  said 
to  be  endeavouring  to  outstrip  my  leader?  and  would 
it  not  be  confusion  worse  confounded?  Yet  I  sup- 
pose these  are  the  only  nostrums  recommended.  I 
cannot  take  them — this  is  between  ourselves.  .  ,  . 
Pray  tell  me  what  Lord  Derby  says  and  pray  tell  me 
whether  the  report  be  true  or  false  respecting  Bur- 
dett's  declaration  against  the  Catholick  Question. .  .  ." 

"Southill,  Nov.  i6,  1809. 

"  Many  thanks  for  your  letter,  which  contained  the 
first  information  I  have  received  of  Lord  Lansdowne's 
death.  It  certainly  very  much  changes  the  plans  laid 
down  by  Tierney.  You  may  be  sure  that  my  views 
as  to  my  own  personal  conduct  are  the  same  as  those 
stated  in  your  letter  to  be  the  correct  ones,  and  that 
I  shall  keep  myself  as  quiet  as  if  there  was  a  leader 
in  whom  I  confided  and  could  act  under.  I  shall  not 
stir  hand  or  foot.  It  is  my  intention  to  be  prepared 
with  such  an  amendment  [to  the  Address]  as  you 
have  described,  and  I  told  Tierney  that  such  an 
amendment  alone  could  satisfy  the  publick,  or  be 
consistent  with  the  duty  of  a  Member  of  Parliament." 


iSog.J  THE   PASSAGE    OF   THE   DQURO'.  '        '       roi 

The  following  correspondence  refers  to  Sir 
Arthur  Wellesley's  passage  of  the  Douro  in  the  face 
of  Soult's  army — one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  dash- 
ing operations  of  the  third  Peninsular  campaign, 
1809-14,  of  which  it  was  the  first  act.  Wellesley, 
having  landed  at  Lisbon,  in  April,  with  21,500  men, 
found  himself  near  the  centre  of  a  vast  semi-circle 
of  French  corps  numbering  upwards  of  200,000.  He 
decided  to  strike  before  his  enemies  could  concen- 
trate upon  him,  and  marched  straight  upon  Oporto, 
170  miles  to  the  north,  where  Soult  lay  with  24,000 
men.  The  French  Generals  Franceschi  and  Mermet, 
falling  back  before  his  advance,  retreated  into  Oporto, 
destroying  the  pontoon  bridge  across  the  deep  and 
rapid  Douro.  The  romantic  episode  of  the  barber  of 
Oporto  and  his  skiff,  the  resource  and  daring  which 
Colonel  Waters  displayed  in  using  these  humble 
instruments  to  bring  barges  over  from  the  enemy's 
shore,  the  nerve  of  Wellesley  and  the  splendid 
courage  of  his  soldiers  which  seized  and  clinched 
the  slender  opportunity,  can  never  be  better  de- 
scribed than  they  have  been  in  Napier's  glowing 
narrative. 

Major-Genl.  R.  C.  Ferguson  *  to  Samuel  Whitbread,  M.P. 

"Tickhill,  Bantry,  21  July,  iSog. 

"  My  dear  Sir, 

"...  I  last  night  got  a  letter  from  Sir 
Arthur  Wellesley  and  think  it  best  to  send  you  the 
original  without  making  any  comment  on  it.  He  is 
a  very  fine  manly  fellow,  and  I  am   sure  (whatever 

*  [Sir]  Ronald  Crawfurd  Ferguson  [i 773-1841],  2nd  son  of 
William  Ferguson,  of  Raith,  was  M.P.  for  Kirkcaldy  burghs  1806- 
1830  ;  commanded  the  Highland  Brigade  of  42nd  and  78th  regiments 
at  Vimeiro. 


102  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  V. 

were  the  misrepresentations  of  the  Ministers)  you 
shd.  not  mean  to  say  anything  personally  disre- 
spectful to  him.  I  know  that  in  many  points  you 
like  him,  and  I  shd.  be  very  sorry  that  anything  shd. 
occur  which  shd.  remove  the  mutual  good  opinion 
you  have  of  each  other.  It  is  one  of  those  things  in 
which  no  advice  can  be  given,  and  it  must  be  left  en- 
tirely to  yourself,  but  I  trust  you  will  pardon  me  if  I 
express  a  hope  that  you  will  either  write  a  few  lines 
to  him  or  to  me,  such  as  I  can  send  to  him,  which  will 
do  away  any  unpleasant  impression  that  the  news- 
paper reports  may  have  occasioned. 

"  I  desire,  &c., 

"  R.  C.  Ferguson." 


Lieut.-Gcn.  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley  to  Major-Gen.  R.  C. 
Ferguson  {enclosed  in  the  above). 

"  Abrantes,  22nd  June,  1809. 

"  My  dear  Ferguson, 

"  I  am  in  general  callous  to  the  observations 
of  party  and  to  the  remarks  of  writers  in  the  news- 
papers, but  I  acknowledge  that  I  have  been  a  little 
disturbed  by  a  statement  which  it  appears  was  made 
in  the  House  of  Commons  by  Mr.  Whitbread — viz.  : 
that  I  had  exaggerated  the  success  of  the  Army 
under  my  command,  or,  in  other  words,  that  I  had 
lycd. 

"  I  complain  that  Mr.  Whitbread  before  he  made 
this  statement  in  the  House  did  not  read  my  letter 
with  attention ;  if  he  had,  he  would  have  seen,  first, 
that  we  were  engaged  on  the  loth  only  with  cavalry 
and  a  small  body  of  infantry,  with  some  guns ; 
secondly,  on  the  nth  with  about  4000  infantry  and 
some  squadrons  of  cavalry ;  and  on  the  12th  I  stated 
nothing  of  numbers,  but  that  the  French  were  under 
command  of  Soult. 

"  From  the  nature  of  the  action  it  was  impossible 
for  me  to  see  the  numbers  engaged,  so  as  to  form  an 
estimate  of  them  in  a  dispatch  ;  but  I  saw  Soult,  and 
knew  when  I  was  writing,  not  only  that  he  was  in 
the  action,  but  that  he  was  either  wounded  or  had  a 


i8o9.]    SIR  ARTHUR  WELLESLEY  REMONSTRATES.     103 

fall  from  his  horse ;  and  I  saw  a  very  large  body  of 
troops  march  out  of  Oporto  to  the  attack.  I  Have 
since  heard  that  the  whole  of  the  French  infantry  in 
Portugal,  with  the  exception  of  Loison's  Corps,  which 
might  amount  to  4000  men,  were  in  this  attack,  and 
this  [illegible]  estimated  to  be  10,000  men.  We  took 
two  pieces  more  cannon  in  action  than  I  stated  in  my 
dispatch,  and  I  believe  the  return  of  cannon  which 
the  French  were  obliged  to  leave  on  that  day  was 
not  less  than  50  pieces. 

"After  that,  I  don't  think  it  quite  fair  that  I 
should,  in  my  absence,  be  accused  of  exaggeration, 
or,  in  other  words,  lying.  I  believe  you  know  that  I 
am  not  in  the  habit  of  sending  exaggerated  accounts 
of  transactions  of  this  kind.  In  the  first  place,  I 
don't  see  what  purpose  accounts  of  that  description 
are  to  answer;  and  in  the  second  place,  the  Army 
must  eventually  see  them ;  they  are  most  accurate 
criticks :  I  should  certainly  forfeit  their  good  opinion 
most  justly  if  I  wrote  a  false  account  even  of  their 
actions,  and  nothing  should  induce  me  to  take  any 
step  which  should  with  justice  deprive  me  of  that 
advantage.  As  you  are  well  acquainted  with  Mr. 
Whitbread,  I  shall  be  obliged  to  you  if  you  will 
mention  these  circumstances  to  him.  I  have  thought 
it  better  to  set  him  right  in  this  way  than  to  get  any 
friend  of  mine  in  the  House  of  Commons  to  have  a 
wrangle  with  him  on  the  subject. 

"  Believe  me,  Yours  most  sincerely, 

"Arthur  Wellesley. 

"  I'll  tell  you  what  I  might  have  said  without 
exaggeration — that,  whenever  we  were  engaged,  we 
had  fewer  numbers  than  the  enemy." 


Samuel  Whitbread,  M.P.,  to  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley. 

"  Southill,  July  30,  1S09, 

"Dear  Sir, 

"  I  am  very  much  concern'd  to  find  by  a 
letter  I  have  received  from  Genl,  Ferguson,  inclosing 
one  from  you  to  him,  that  a  report  in  some  of  the 
newspapers  of  what  I  am  supposed  to  have  said  in 


I04  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  V. 

the  House  of  Commons  relative  to  the  operations 
of  the  army  under  your  command  at  Oporto  has 
been  the  cause  of  any  uneasiness  to  you.  You  know 
full  well  that  the  newspapers  very  commonly  mis- 
represent what  falls  from  members  of  Parliament,  and 
that  it  is  impossible  to  answer  for  what  is  put  in  by 
the  reporters.  In  this  case  I  really  don't  know  what 
I  have  been  made  to  say,  but  I  can  venture  to  assure 
you  that  nothing  disrespectful  towards  yourself  ever 
fell  from  my  mouth,  because  all  the  feelings  of  my 
mind  are  of  a  nature  so  entirely  the  reverse.  I 
have  upon  all  occasions  expressed  my  real  opinion 
of  you,  and  I  trust  that  political  differences  have 
never  led  me,  even  in  public,  to  underrate  your  past 
services,  or  my  hopes  of  your  future  ones.  I  dare- 
say 1  did  express  my  opinion  that  the  rejoicings  of 
your  friends  in  power  upon  the  receipt  of  your  Dis- 
patch was  greater  than  the  occasion  call'd  for,  in 
which  was  not  to  be  included  any  sentiment  dero- 
gatory to  you.  I  am  sorry  that  your  very  important 
occupations  should  be  interrupted,  even  for  the  short 
time  necessary  to  read  this  letter,  by  any  circum- 
stance relating  to  me  ;  but  I  could  not  help  writing 
to  you,  and  I  must  detain  you  one  moment  longer  to 
assure  you  that  I  wish  you  all  possible  success,  and 
that  I  expect  from  an  army  commanded  by  you  every 
happy  result  that  its  strength  can  possibly  effect. 
"  I  am,  My  dear  Sir,  Your  very  faithful  servant, 

"  S.  Whitbread." 


Lieut. -Gen.  Sir  Ari/mr  Welles  ley  to  Samuel  Whit- 
bread, M.P. 

"  Badajos,  Sep.  4,  1809.* 

"  Dear  Sir, 

"  1  am  very  much  obliged  to  you  for  your 
letter  of  the  loth  of  August  \_sic']  which  I  received 
yesterday.  As  I  had  more  than  once  received  from 
you  those  marks  of  your  attention  and  of  your  good 
opinion  which  you  have  been    pleased  to  repeat  in 

*  The    date   of  Wellesley's    patent   as   Viscount   Wellington    of 
Talavera. 


i8o9.]  MR.   WHITBREAD    HAS    EXPLAINED.  105 

your  letter,  and  as  it  indeed  appeared  by  the  report 
of  your  speech  which  I  read  that  you  had  expressed 
the  same  sentiments  on  that  occasion,  I  was  anxious 
to  remove  from  your  mind  an  impression  which  it 
appeared  had  been  made  upon  it,  and  which  must 
have  been  injurious  to  me — that  I  had  made  an  ex- 
aggerated statement  of  the  operations  of  the  troops 
under  my  command.  In  fact,  I  did  not  state  with 
what  numbers  of  the  enemy  the  army  was  engaged 
when  it  passed  the  Douro,  as  I  did  not  know  them 
when  I  wrote  my  dispatch ;  and  that  was  what  I 
wanted  to  explain  to  you.  I  will  not  enter  into  any 
statement  of  our  affairs  in  this  part  of  the  world  ;  I 
daresay  that  you  will  hear  and  read  enough,  and 
speak  more  upon  them  than  some  of  us  will  like.  I 
rather  think,  however,  that  between  numbers  on  the 
side  of  the  enemy  and  strength  of  position  on  ours, 
we  are  so  equally  balanced  that  neither  party  will  do 
the  other  much  mischief  It  will  be  satisfactory,  how- 
ever, for  you  to  hear  that  the  French  begin  to  be  con- 
vinced 'que  les  Francois  ne  seront  jamais  les  maitres 
des  Anglois.' 

"  Ever,  dear  Sir,  Yours  most  faithfully, 

"  Arthur  Wellesley." 


General  Ferguson  to  Samuel  Whitbread,  M.P. 

"Raith,  Oct.  i,  1809. 

"  My  dear  Sir, 

"  I  have  to  thank  you  for  your  letter  of  the 
25th  ulto.  accompanied  by  Sir  Arthur's  to  you.  With 
respect  to  his  rashness  in  advancing  so  far  into 
Spain,  I  fear  something  may  be  said ;  but  1  should 
fam  hope  that  in  his  account  of  the  battle  of  Tala- 
vera  he  will  be  acquitted  of  the  charge  of  exaggera- 
tion. Twenty  pieces  of  cannon  and  5  standards 
taken  from  the  enemy  will  be  strong  evidence  in  his 
favour.  I  have  had  a  long  letter  from  him,  in  which 
he  gives  a  melancholy  picture  of  the  Spanish  army 
and  of  the  Government.  Indeed  he  seems  to  have 
no  hopes  of  the  ultimate  success  of  the  Spaniards. 
He  tells  me  not  to  think  of  having  anything  to  do 
with  him  or  his  army,  so  my  trip  to  Spain  is  at  an 


I06  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  V 

end.  We  shall  probably  have  fighting  enough  at 
home,  beginning  with  a  war  of  words,  which  (if  the 
system  ofGovernment  is  not  compleatly  chang'd)  will 
end  in  blows.  If  any  of  our  friends  come  in,  I  hope 
they  will  not  put  the  convettience  of  one  individual 
in  competition  with  the  existence  of  the  country.  If 
they  do,  I  hope  that  no  honest  man  will  support 
them.  If  Park,  meets  in  Novr.  I  shall  go  to  town, 
and  should  you  be  at  Southill  I  shall  not  pass  your 
door." 

Creevey  resembled  many  of  us  in  that  he  often 
began  to  keep  a  journal,  and  as  often  left  off  doing  so. 
His  diary  during  the  autumn  of  1809  was  rather  more 
continuous  than  usual. 


Journal. 

"25/A  Sept,  1809.— Left  Whitfield  for  Gosforth  on 
our  way  to  Howick,  and  learnt  there  that  a  King's 
Messenger  had  passed  thro'  Newcastle  in  the  morning 
on  his  way  to  Howick  to  Lord  Grey. 

"  26///. — Sent  on  to  Newcastle  from  Gosforth  and 
ascertained  the  Messenger  had  been  at  Howick,  and 
was  returned  with  letters  from  Lord  Grey,  but  that  he 
himself  was  not  gone  to  London,  so  we  proceed  to 
Howick. 

"Nothing  said  before  dinner  of  the  Messenger,  but 
after  dinner  Lord  Grey  mentioned  that  a  Messenger 
had  brought  offers  from  the  Ministers  to  him,  and  that 
similar  ones  had  been  sent  to  Lord  Grenville,  and 
that  he  (Lord  Grey)  had  sent  a  refusal.  Does  not 
mention  what  the  offers  were,  but  that  the  Ministers 
talked  of  an  extended  administration.  Conversation 
about  Castlereagh's  duel  with  Canning.  Lord  Grey 
thinks  Castlereagh  in  the  right :  that  his  cause  of 
complaint  against  Canning  was  the  latter  having  told 
the  King  and  Duke  of  Portland  three  months  ago  he 
could  not  remain  in  the  Cabinet  with  Castlereagh,  and 
yet  never  mentioning  this  to  Castlereagh,  but  living 
apparently  well  with  him.  Then  the  cause  of  the  duel 
— Lord  Grey  considers  Canning's  resignation  owing 


i8o9.]  JOURNAL.  107 

to  his  not  being  able  to  succeed  Duke  of  Portland  as 
Prime  Minister.  Curran  the  Irish  Master  of  the  Rolls, 
Geo.  Ponsonby  and  Frederic  Ponsonby  (Lady  Grey's 
two  brothers),  Lord  Grey  and  myself  the  party  after 
dinner.  .  .  .  Lord  Grey  decidedly  against  the  plan  of 
the  campaign  in  Holland,  and  acquits  Lord  Chatham 
of  all  blame  in  the  execution  of  it,  and  still  more 
decided  in  reprobation  of  Lord  Wellington's  Spanish 
campaign  and  of  the  conduct  of  Ministers  about  the 
battle  of  Talavera. 

"  Lord  Grey  very  shy  and  artificial  with  me  about 

goliticks  —  makes  frequent  mention  of  Sir  Francis 
urdett  and  the  No-Party  men,  and  says,  in  answer 
to  an  observation  of  mine  that  the  present  Govern- 
ment can  never  last,  however  patched  up,  that  in  the 
present  state  of  the  House  of  Commons  any  Govern- 
ment may  stand.  I  consider  these  observations  as 
meant  at  my  conduct  last  session,  for  doing  all  I  could 
to  expose  what  I  thought  the  meanness  and  folly  of 
his  (Lord  Grey's)  party,  of  which  I  had  till  then  been 
one.  I  take,  however,  no  notice  of  these  observations, 
as  it  is  not  necessary  I  should  apply  them  to  myself; 
and  I  am  more  convinced  than  ever  that  I  was  right 
last  session,  and  that  the  leaders  of  Whig  party  were 
to  the  last  degree  contemptible.  I  am  in  no  way 
committed  with  Sir  Francis  Burdett  or  any  views  of 
his.  I  know  him  well,  and  think  upon  the  whole 
unfavorably  of  him,  but  will  not  say  so  to  Lord  Grey 
without  his  giving  me  a  fair  and  proper  occasion  for 
so  doing. 

"  Wednesdayy  2'jth. — .  .  .  Nothing  passed  material 
after  dinner.  Some  hit  at  my  newspaper  the  Statesman 
as  a  no-party  paper.     Curran  gone. 

"  Thursday,  2St/i,  till  Oct.  5///. — .  .  .  Conversation 
after  dinner  and  after  supper  always  as  artificial  as 
the  devil.  Lord  Grey  shewing  his  spite  at  my  conduct 
the  last  session,  and  his  own  folly  by  the  following 
observations  made  by  him — 'The  Duke  of  York's 
business  last  session  in  the  House  of  Commons  never 
gave  the  King  a  moment's  uneasiness.' — 'The  Duke  of 
York  was  the  best  Commander-in-chief  the  army  ever 
had,  except  in  the  field  ! ' — '  Adam  was  used  shamefully 
in  the  House  of  C.  last  session.' — '  Lord  Castlcreagh's 
business  in  the  House  of  Commons  last  session  about 


I08  THE   CREEVEY  PAPERS.  [Ch.  V. 

the  writership  did  not  do  him  the  slightest  injury.' — 
'Canning  calling  Coke  of  Norfolk  a  landed  grandee 
was  damned  good.' — '  Romilly  had  entirely  failed  in 
the  House  of  Commons.' — 'The  first  man  this  country 
has  seen  since  Burke's  time  is  Brougham.' — '  Piggott 
was  the  best  speaker  in  the  House  next  to  Canning.' 
.  .  .  Lord  Grey  says  tho'  he  is  against  proscription  in 
forming  an  administration,  yet  Canning  is  the  last  man 
he  would  unite  with, 

"  Mrs.  Creevey  receives  a  letter  from  Lady  Petre 
begging  her  and  me  to  write  letters  of  introduction  in 
Edinburgh  for  her  son,  young  Lord  Petre,  who  is 
going  there.  Mrs.  Creevey  asks  Lord  Grey  to  let  her 
send  a  note  to  Alnwick  to  bring  him  and  his  tutor 
over  here.  Lord  and  Lady  Grey  make  such  difficulty 
about  beds,  and,  in  short,  fling  such  cold  water  upon 
the  proposal,  that  we  drop  the  subject.  Take  notice, 
there  was  room  in  the  house — plenty.  Lord  Petre's 
family  have  spent  ;^i 5,000  at  least  in  supporting  Lord 
Grey"^s  party  in  elections,  &c.,  &c.,  besides  great 
intimacy  between  the  families.  So  much  for  gratitude 
in  political  leaders  to  their  supporters  ! .  .  . 

''Friday,  Oct.  6t/i— Sir  Chas.  Monk  and  Loch  the 
counsel  came  over  from  Alnwick  sessions  to  dine 
at  Howick,  and  as  they  were  both  very  free-spoken 
and  honest  politicians,  Lord  Grey  seemed  devilishly 
frightened  after  dinner  least  anything  should  be  said 
upon  the  subject.  It  was  stupid  enough.  Loch  and  I 
had  a  good  walk  before  dinner,  and  gave  the  Whigs 
their  deserts. 

"  Safy.,  yth. — We  leave  Howick  with  all  kinds  of 
civilities— squeezing  of  hands,  &c.,  as  if  all  parties 
were  as  pleased  as  Punch ;  and  so,  in  fact,  it  was — 
they  to  get  quit  of  us,  and  we  to  regain  our  liberty. 
Get  to  Gosforth,  Charles  Brandling's,  Mrs.  Creevey's 
brother  and  member  for  Newcastle,  an  inveterate 
Pittite,  but  who  is  quite  stunned  with  the  figure  the 
Government  has  made. 

''Sat,  Oct  I4tk.  —  We  leave  Gosforth  for  Low 
Gosforth.  Little  done  or  said  at  Gosforth  during  our 
stay  about  politicks.  Charles  Brandling  all  for  Canning 
against  Castlereagh,  but  evidently  shook  in  his  attach- 
ment to  Canning  from  Castlereagh's  letter  and  state- 
ment  in    the   papers,  and   Canning's   reply.     Damns 


i8o9.]  JOURNAL.  1 09 

Perceval,  Eldon  and  above  all  the  Grenvilles  —  in 
favor  of  Lord  Grey. 

"  Monday,  Oct.  23. — Leave  Low  Gosforth  for  Shot- 
ton,  Ralph  Brandling's,  county  of  Durham.  At  Low 
Gosforth  nothing  but  eating  and  drinking.  .  .  .  We 
receive  a  very  kind  letter  from  Lord  Milton,  inviting 
us  to  his  father  Ld.  Fitzwilliam's  at  Wentworth,  which 
we  are  sorry  we  can't  accept. 

"  27///.  —  We  leave  Shotton  on  our  way  south. 
Terrible  dull  work  at  Shotton.  .  .  . 

"30//?. — Arrive  at  Whitbread's — Southill,  Bedford- 
shire —  Whitbread  and  Lady  Elizabeth  Whitbread 
(sister  to  Lord  Grey)  quite  delighted  to  see  us. 
Nothing  but  politicks  between  Whitbread  and  me 
from  the  moment  we  meet  just  before  dinner  till  bed- 
time. Quite  against  Canning  and  the  whole  Govern- 
ment— approves  Lord  Grey's  letter  to  Perceval  very 
much,  but  agrees  with  me  that  in  the  general 
sentiments  he  delivers  upon  all  publick  subjects,  he 
talks  like  a  madman.  1  tell  him  everything  that 
has  passed  at  Howick,  about  which  he  just  thinks 
with  me. 

^' Sunday y  315/. — Whitbread  shows  me  a  letter 
written  to  him  by  Grey  upon  his  receiving  Perceval's 
offer,  containing  a  copy  of  Perceval's  letter  and  Grey's 
answer.  I  take  copies  of  them.  The  writing  on  such 
an  occasion  very  right  in  Grey,  and  the  letter  in  many 
parts  kind,  but  in  many  others  very  arrogant,  and  just 
treating  Whitbread  as  a  person  entirely  separated 
from  Grey  in  politicks.  Whitbread  in  his  answer  very 
affectionate  to  Grey,  and  very  stout  in  the  support  of 
his  own  conduct  at  the  same  time. 

Same  day,  he  shews  me  a  correspondence  between 
Sir  Arthur  Wellesley  (Lord  Wellington)  and  himself, 
occasioned  by  a  speech  of  Whitbread's  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  stating  that  Wellesley's  account  of  the 
battle  of  the  Douro  in  Spain  *  was  an  exaggeration. 
This  was  brought  about  by  General  Ferguson,  a 
friend  of  both,  a  member  of  the  House  of  Commons 
and  a  most  admirable  man,  .  ,  ,  I  hate  Wellesley,  but 
there  are  passages  in  his  letter  that  made  me  think 
better  of  him,  ,  ,  . 

*  It  was  fought,  of  course,  in  Portugal. 


no  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  V. 

'*  On  the  same  day,  Whitbread  shews  me  a  corre- 
spondence between  Tierney  and  him.  .  .  .  Tierney, 
thinking  Grenville  and  Grey  are  coming  in,  writes  a 
letter  to  Whitbread  offering  his  services  to  set  every- 
thing to  right  that  may  be  wrong,  and,  in  short, 
meaning  to  bring  Grey  and  Whitbread  together  again 
in  politicks,  and  to  procure  for  Whitbread  an^'  place 
in  the  supposed  new  government  he  may  wish.  .  .  . 
Whitbread,  considering  this  very  friendly  in  Tierney, 
returns  him  a  very  kind  answer,  shewing  clearly  he 
has  no  disinclination  to  office,  but  at  the  same  time, 
stating  he  will  not  relinquish  an  atom  of  his  political 
principles  or  make  the  least  compromise. 

"  Whitbread  evidently  quite  taken  in  by  Tierney 
in  this  proceeding.  Tierney  finds  out  that  Lord 
Grey's  party,  if  they  come  into  office,  can't  carry  on 
the  Government  in  the  House  of  Commons  against 
Whitbread  ;  so  now,  instead  of  abusing  him  as  was 
done  all  last  session,  he  is  to  be  cajoled. 

"  Saty.,  Nov.  4. — We  leave  Whitbread's  for  London, 
having  spent  a  very  happy  time  at  Southill,  and  with 
a  most  firm  conviction  that  Whitbread — tho'  rough  in 
his  manners — tho'  entirely  destitute  of  all  taste  or 
talent  for  conversation,  and  tho'  apparently  almost 
tyrannical  in  his  deportment  to  his  inferiors — is  a  man 
of  the  very  strictest  integrity,  with  the  most  generous, 
kind  and  feeling  heart. 

"  Lord  and  Lady  Ponsonby  pass  us  on  the  road  to 
Southill.  The  Whitbreads  wanted  us  to  stay  to  meet 
them,  but  we  would  not,  because  Lord  Ponsonby  had 
been  always  just  of  opinion  with  Whitbread  and  me 
about  politicks,  till  some  months  past,  when  he  became 
quite  against  us,  as  I  think,  not  only  without  reason, 
but  against  all  reason ;  and  as  I  know  he  is  hard 
pressed  for  money,  I  suppose  he  is  after  a  place,  and 
I  cut  him  as  a  shabby  politician. 

"  Sunday,  Nov.  5. — Arrived  in  London.  The  first 
person  I  see  is  McMahon  M.P.  and  Prince  of  Wales's 
Secretary.  I  go  in  with  him  to  Carlton  House  and 
write  my  name  for  the  Prince.  McMahon  shows  me 
a  copy  of  a  most  mean  letter  from  Perceval  to  the 
Duke  of  Northumberland,  imploring  his  support  of  the 
Government,  tho'  a  stranger  to  the  Duke,  and  offering 
Earl  Percy  a  seat  at  the  Treasury  Board.     I  saw  the 


iSo9.]  JOURNAL.  Ill 

Duke's  answer — a  dry  refusal,  with  thanks  for  all 
Perceval's  compliments. 

"  McMahon  tells  me  a  letter  is  certainly  shewn 
about  by  Perceval,  written  to  him  by  the  King,  threat- 
ening to  dissolve  the  parliament  if  they  don't  support 
his  Ministry. 

^^  Monday,  Nov.  6. — I  learn  from  Whishaw — a  par- 
ticular friend  of  mine,  who  lives  almost  entirely  at 
Holland  House — that  the  language  now  held  there  is 
that  Grey  and  Whitbread  are  become  quite  united 
again  in  politicks — that  all  differences  are  at  an  end — 
that  Lord  Ponsonby  (Lady  Grey's  brother)  is  gone  to 
Southill  to  confirm  the  union,  and  that  Tierney  and 
the  Duke  of  Bedford  are  to  go  from  Woburn  to 
Southill  on  Tuesday,  and  Lord  Carrington,  Lord 
Essex,  and  Giles  of  the  House  of  Commons  [illegible] 
the  same  day,  and  all  this  visiting  is  represented  at 
Holland  House  as  a  political  mission  to  Whitbread  to 
confirm  him  in  his  reported  reconciliation  with  Gre3% 
All  this  evidently  got  up  by  Tierney.  There  is  no 
foundation  whatever  for  saying  Grey  and  Whitbread 
are  more  alike  in  politicks  than  they  have  been  these 
two  years.  Tierney  used  to  tell  everybody,  as  he  has 
often  done  me,  that  Grey  and  Whitbread  were  more 
separated  than  they  actually  were,  because  he  then 
thought  he  could  do  without  Whitbread ;  and  the 
sooner  he  was  flung  off  the  better.  Now  he  finds  he 
can't  do  without  him,  and  he  states,  without  an  atom  of 
foundation,  that  Grey  and  Whitbread  are  the  same,  and 
tries  to  cajole  Whitbread  into  thinking  so.  I  write  to 
Whitbread  and  tell  him  all  I  hear  from  Holland  House. 

"  Tuesday,  "jtli. — Lord  Kensington  and  Ward  dine 
with  us,  both  full  of  their  jokes  at  the  expense  of  our 
political  leaders. 

•'  Wcdy.,  Sf/i. — I  have  a  letter  from  Whitbread.  He 
says  Lord  Ponsonby  never  said  a  word  upon  politicks, 
Saturday,  all  the  evening — that  Whitbread  was  ill  on 
Sunday  and  did  not  appear,  and  that  my  Lord  was  off 
on  Monday  before  Whitbread.  So  much  for  his 
'mission.'  He  says  Tierney  and  the  Duke  and  other 
Lords  are  there. 

"  I  meet  in  the  streets  several  politicians,  tho'  the 
town  is  very  empty — Owen  Williams,  Lord  Kensington, 
Cavendish,     Bradshaw,     Maxwell,     Lord    Ossulston, 


112  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.         [Ch.  V. 

Horner,  Martin,  Ward — all  in  the  House  of  Commons 
— all,  except  Horner,  inclined  to  talk  very  contemptu- 
ously of  our  political  leaders.  Horner  is  for  doing 
nothing  in  the  House  of  Commons  this  approaching 
session — damns  the  people  as  rank  Tories — I  defend 
them,  as  having  been  betrayed  by  political  leaders, 
and  am  myself  all  for  impeachment.*  Martin  is  all  for 
attacking  the  Ministers,  but  is  affraid  we  shan't  hang 
together.  .  .  . 

^'Friday,  Nov.  loth. — Lord  Kensington  and  Sir 
Philip  Francis  dine  with  us.  Wardle's  motion  for  a 
new  trial  against  Mr,  Clarke  and  the  Wrights  had 
taken  place  the  day  before  in  the  King's  Bench,  and 
rule  iiisi  granted.  .  .  .  Wardle  shews  me  a  correspon- 
dence between  him  and  Lord  Folkestone  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  a  communication  made  to  Folkestone  by  Sir 
Rd.  Philips  for  Wardle's  use  in  his  legal  proceedings 
against  Mrs.  Clarke,  which  Folkestone  had  withheld 
from  Wardle  and  shewn  to  Mrs.  Clarke.  Folkestone 
appears  to  have  acted  wrong  under  some  blind  attach- 
ment to  Mrs.  Clarke.  Wardle  had  thought  at  one 
time  of  calling  him  out,  but  now  means  to  subpoena 
him  on  the  approaching  trial.  I  must  prevent  this  if 
possible :  it  will  produce  a  quarrel  between  the  two, 
and  do  great  mischief  with  the  publick  to  have  these 
two  quarrel  who  have  hitherto  been  so  well  together 
in  the  same  pursuit. 

"■  Saturday,  nth. — I  find  by  a  letter  from  Whitbread 
this  day  that  Tierney  has  been  proposing  Lord  Henry 
Petty  or  Lord  George  Cavendish  as  leader  of  our  party 
in  the  House  of  Commons  !  Whitbread  says  he  never 
can  submit  to  it.  Was  there  ever  anything  so  con- 
temptible !  but  the  reason  is  obvious — Tierney  wants 
Lord  George  to  be  the  nominal  leader,  and  himself 
the  real  one. 

"  We  dine  at  Lord  Derb3'''s — nobody  but  us. 
Lord  Derby  excellent  in  every  respect,  as  he  always 
is,  and  my  Lady  still  out  of  spirits  for  the  loss  of  her 
child,  but  surpassing  even  in  her  depressed  state  all 
your  hereditary  nobility  I  have  ever  seen,  tho'  she 
came  from  the  stage  to  her  title.f 

*  Of  the  Duke  of  York. 

t  Eliza  Farren,  a  well-known  actress,  became  the  2nd  countess  of 
the  1 2th  Earl  of  Derby. 


iSog.]  JOURNAL.  1 13 

^'Sunday,  12th. — I  meet  Abercromby  in  my  walk. 
He  is  as  artificial  as  the  devil — will  scarcely  touch 
politicks — thinks,  however,  the  Wellesleys  will  now  be 
beat  if  they  are  attacked  properly  ;  upon  which  I  fire 
into  our  leaders  for  their  meanness  in  not  having 
attacked  them  long  ago.  He  is  very  sore  at  such 
observation,  and  when  I  tell  him  that  Wardle  is  on 
his  legs  again,  all  he  can  say  is — '  Wardle  is  the  agent 
of  the  Duke  of  Kent.'  Was  there  ever  such  nonsense  ? 
C.  Warren  the  lawyer  dines  with  us,  and,  as  usual, 
full  of  sensible  observations.  He  predicts  the  present 
reign  will  end  quietly  from  the  popularity  of  the  King, 
but  that  when  it  ends,  the  profligacy  and  unpopularity 
of  all  the  Princes,  with  the  situation  of  the  country  as 
to  financial  difficulties,  and  the  rapidly  and  widely 
extended  growth  of  Methodism,  will  produce  a  storm. 

^^  Monday,  13///. — Calcraft,  Wardle  and  Payne  dine 
with  us.  .  .  .  Wardle  says  he  is  quite  sure  of  suc- 
ceeding both  in  gaining  a  new  trial  against  Wright 
and  in  his  prosecution  of  Mrs.  Clarke  and  Wright  for 
perjury,  and  he  takes  the  whole  business,  as  he  has 
done  throughout,  with  the  most  perfect  composure. 
I  can't  bring  myself  to  think  there  is  anything  bad  in 
him,  and  I  have  looked  at  him  in  all  ways  in  order  to 
be  sure  of  him.  I  know  he  is  in  distress  for  money, 
but  all  the  men  from  his  part  of  the  country  dine  with 
him  and  speak  well  of  him.  ...  In  his  approaching 
prosecution  he  means  to  subpoena  the  Duke  of  York 
and  Lord  Moira  and  Lord  Chichester  about  the 
;£"io,ooo  given  to  Mrs.  Clarke  for  suppressing  the 
publication  of  the  Duke  of  York's  letters  to  her. 
Warren  has  seen  these  letters  :  they  were  laid  before 
him  by  counsel  to  advise  whether  they  might  be 
printed  with  safety  to  the  publisher,  and  he  told  me 
such  stuff  was  never  seen.  They  consist  of  the  Duke 
of  York's  observations  or  information  to  Mrs.  Clarke 
concerning  the  Royal  family — his  hatred  of  the  Prince 
of  Wales — his  jokes  about  the  Queen  and  the  intrigues 
and  accouchement  of  the  Princess — all  in  the  coarsest 
and  most  licentious  language.  What  a  damnable 
piece  of  work  the  examination  of  these  Lords  and 
Princes  will  be. 

"  Tuesday,  14///. — I  find  in  the  streets  Lord  Lans- 
downe   is  dead,   and    Lord    Henry   Petty   of   course 

1 


114  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.        [Ch.  V. 

succeeds  him,  so  he  leaves  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  his  being  leader  is  at  an  end.  I  write  to  tell 
Whitbread.  .  .  . 

'' Wednesday,  I  ^tJi. — Sir  John  Sebright,  Ld.  Ken- 
sington, Western  and  \illegible\  all  dined  with  us.  .  .  . 

'^Thursday,  i6th. — We  dine  at  Lord  Derby's: 
present — Lord  Holland,  Lord  Grenville,  Tierney, 
Lord  Kinnaird  and  young  Eden  (Lord  Auckland's 
second  son).  One  should  have  thought  at  such  a 
time  the  conversation  of  such  a  party  might  have 
been  worth  hearing,  but  nothing  could  be  lower — 
imitations  of  old  Lansdowne  and  Lord  Thurlow  by 
Lord  Holland,  and  such  like  things.  The  only 
political  thing  was — Lord  Derby  says,  from  all  he 
hears,  he  thinks  the  appointment  of  so  young  a  man 
as  Manners  Sutton  *  to  Judge  Advocate  has  given  such 
offence,  that  a  motion  upon  that  subject  would  be  a 
good  one  for  the  House  of  Commons  at  the  opening 
of  the  session  ;  upon  which  Tierney  shrugs  his  head 
and  says — 'Personal  questions  never  answer.'  Was 
there  ever  such  contemptible  stuff  at  such  a  crisis  ? 
But  this  is  the  judicious  leader,  or  rather  adviser 
behind  the  curtain  of  the  Whigs  and  Grenvilles. 
What  is  there  that  relates  to  all  or  any  of  the  present 
Government  that  is  not  a  personal  question  ? 

^'Saturday,  iSf/i. — We  come  down  to  Brighton. 
Walk  all  the  morning  with  different  people,  but  Sir 
Charles  Pole  is  the  only  politician  :  shews  me  a  letter 
from  Tierney,  saying  Parliament  does  not  meet  till 
20th  January,  and  that  therefore  the  Ministers  were 
sure  of  anotJier  quarters  salary.  This  a  Privy  Coun- 
cillor too !  what  a  low  blackguard.  He  evidently  is 
writing  to  Pole  and  others  to  coax  them  into  voting 
as  he  does.  Pole  tells  me  the  way  in  which  Perceval 
has  sollicited  the  assistance  of  N.  Vansittart,  Adding- 
ton  (Lord  Sidmouth),  Bragge  Bathurst  and  others  of 
that  party,  and  of  their  answers  ;  by  which  it  appears 
to  me  the}^  turn  out,  as  they  always  have  been — shabby 
fellows,  and  Sir  Charles  himself,  I  believe,  is  not 
much  better. 

"  Grattan  here,  with  whom  I  have  frequent  long 
walks.     It  is  impossible  to  meet  with  anyone  more 

*  He  was  then  27,  and  became  Speaker  in  1817. 


i8o9.]  JOURNAL.  II 5 

amiable  and  unaffected  ;  and  considering  his  success- 
ful and  brilliant  publick  life,  his  absence  of  all  vanity 
is  guite  miraculous.  His  opinions  upon  present 
political  persons  in  this  country  are  worth  nothing. 
He  is  a  kind  of  stranger  in  a  new  country — has  no 
longer  any  object  of  ambition — seems  to  consider  his 
day  as  past,  and  to  be  perfectly  satisfied  with  his 
lot.  ... 

"This  trial  of  Wardle's  indictment  against  Mrs. 
Clarke  and  the  Wrights  being  to  come  on  the  first 
week  in  December,  Western  and  I  correspond  upon 
the  necessity  of  getting  Lord  Folkestone  to  London, 
and  trying  to  set  everything  to  right  between  him  and 
Wardle  before  the  trial  comes  on,  as  well  for  both 
their  sakes  as  for  the  general  cause.*  .  .  . 

^' Monday,  December  II. — Folkestone  had  been  in- 
duced by  Mrs.  Clarke  to  think  Wardle  was  an  agent 
of  the  Duke  of  Kent,  and  that  in  that  capacity  he  had 
bound  himself  by  promises  of  great  service  to  her 
which  he  had  afterwards  forfeited.  He  is  now  per- 
fectly convinced  that  the  whole  of  Mrs.  Clarke's 
account  to  him  was  fabrication,  and  he  tells  both 
Wardle,  Western  and  myself  that  he  has  a  higher 
opinion  of  Wardle  than  ever." 

Creevey  goes  on  to  state,  in  terms  too  little 
equivocal  for  modern  taste,  that  Lord  Folkestone 
admitted  that  he  had  a  liaison  with  Mrs.  Clarke  while 
she  was  under  the  protection  of  the  Duke  of  York — 
a  circumstance  only  worthy  of  record  as  throwing 
light  upon  the  character  of  the  woman  who  cost  His 
Royal  Highness  so  dearly. 


*  Mrs.  Clarke,  the  Duke  of  York's  mistress,  used  her  influence  to 
secure  the  promotion  of  officers,  who  paid  her  handsomely  for  her 
assistance.  Colonel  Wardle  brought  the  matter  before  the  House  of 
Commons  in  January,  1809  ;  it  was  referred  to  Committee  of  the 
whole  House,  which,  while  it  acquitted  His  Royal  Highness  of  having 
made  any  pecuniar}^  advantage  himself,  reported  very  unfavourably 
upon  his  discretion,  and  he  was  permitted  to  resign  the  command-in- 
chief.     He  was,  however,  restored  in  iSti. 


Il6  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.        [Ch.  V. 

"This  discovery  again  frightens  Western  and 
myself  to  the  greatest  degree,  considering,  as  we  do, 
that  should  this  fact  appear  upon  the  trial,  it  will  be 
fatal  to  Folkestone's  character,  Folkestone  not  sen- 
sible of  this  at  first,  but  we  frighten  him  to  death  by 
telling  him  of  his  danger. 

'^October  30,  181 1. — As  for  poor  Wardle,  he  is 
ruined  since  I  last  mentioned  him — ruined  by  his 
excessive  folly,  and  being  so  full  of  himself  from  his 
former  success  that  it  was  no  longer  safe  to  advise 
him,  and  so  he  foundered  last  session  upon  a  motion 
about  the  punishment  of  some  soldier." 


(     117    ) 


CHAPTER   VI. 

1810. 

Although  the  Government  had  sustained  a  stunning 
blow  in  the  loss  of  its  two  most  prominent  members, 
Castlereagh  and  Canning,  the  Opposition  found  them- 
selves in  a  still  more  disorganised  plight,  so  as  to  be 
quite  unready  to  gain  any  advantage  from  the  confusion 
of  their  enemies.  The  rising  spirit  of  the  country 
withdrew  all  attention  from  everything  except  the 
war;  the  denunciations  of  ministerial  measures  and 
blunders  fell  upon  deaf  ears,  and  the  Opposition,  as 
is  commonly  to  be  seen  under  similar  circumstances, 
took  to  quarrelling  among  themselves,  mistrusting 
each  other,  unable  to  decide  upon  the  choice  of  a 
leader.  Not  from  want  of  candidates,  to  be  sure ;  it 
is  amusing  to  read  of  the  bewildering  variety  which 
was  offered  to  them. 

Samuel  Whitbread,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"Southill,  Jan.  7,  iSio. 

".  .  .  Lord  Grey  passed  a  night  here  on  his  way 
to  town.  He  was  determined  to  be,  and  was,  very 
kind,  but  we  should  not  have  held  it  long.  It  seems 
not  decided  that  Ponsonby  is  not  still  to  be  continued 
Leader.  I  said  'not  mine.'  I  had  been  disowned  in 
such  a  manner  on  a  topick  of  the  greatest  importance 
I  could  no  longer  fight  under  his  banner.  Lord  Grey 
said  if  he  chose  to  retain  his  situation  he  felt  himself 


Il8  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  VI. 

bound  to  support  him.  I  could  not  help  smiling,  but 
I  said  only  that  I  questioned  much  whether  there 
would  be  any  followers.  He  said  he  believed  I  was 
much  mistaken.  .  .  .  Now  write  to  me  once  more  and 
tell  me  what  you  think  of  my  state  of  mind  from  what 
I  have  written.  I  always  take  advice  and  criticism  in 
good  part  from  a  friend — I  know  I  do — so  cut  away 
boldly.  I  have  no  object  but  the  publick  good  :  I 
want  nothing:  I  seek  nothing.  If  I  do  wrong,  'tis 
because  I  am  not  wise  eno'  to  do  right.  .  .  .  All  about 
Lord  Grey  is  quite  private." 

Lord  Milton,  M.P.,^  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"Milton,  Jan.  8,  1810. 

"  Dear  Creevey, 

"  I  fully  agree  with  you  upon  the  trial  that 
is  about  to  be  given  to  the  H.  of  C.  and  lamentable 
indeed  will  it  be  if  the  issue  is  favourable  to  the 
Gentleman  at  the  end  of  the  Mall,t  as  Michael  Angelo  % 
calls  him.  It  must  completely  damn  Parliament  if  it 
takes  no  notice  of  the  authors  of  the  expedition  to 
Walcheren,  and  all  the  disgraces  and  losses  conse- 
quent upon  their  mismanagement  in  all  quarters.  .  ,  . 
I  am  rather  uneasy  at  hearing  that  the  old  trader  %  is 
to  be  the  manufacturer  of  the  amendment,  but,  short 
of  a  sacrifice  of  principle,  I  think  a  great  deal  ought 
to  be  done  to  embrace  as  many  persons  as  possible ; 
for,  after  all,  nothing  but  a  majority  in  Parlt.  can  lead 
to  the  practical  benefit  of  getting  rid  of  the  present 
administration.  ...  I  trust  the  Marquis  ||  will  meet 
with  the  fate  you  predict  for  him.  He  is  a  great 
calamity  inflicted  upon  England,  and  I  heard  to-day 
that,  upon  this  last  business  with  America,  he  has  sent 
a  proposition  to  her,  the  alternative  of  which  is  to  be 
war.  Here  is  the  advantage  of  having  the  Conqueror 
of  the  East  for  our  foreign  secretary." 

*  Afterwards  5th  Earl  Fitzwilliam. 
t  George  III. 

X  Michael  Angelo  Taylor,  M.P.,  whose  house  in  Whitehall  was  a 
constant  and  favourite  rendezvous  of  the  Whig  party. 
§  Mr.  Whitbread. 
II  Marquess  Wellesley- 


i8io.]  THE    SENTIMENTS    OF   BROUGHAM.  IIQ 

Henry  Bronghmn,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"1810. 

".  .  .  The  Hon.  Company  are  (as  well  as  all  other 
companies  and  most  individuals)  singularly  obliged 
to  Providence  for  restoring  our  gracious  Sovereign. 
His  death  or  idiocy  would  have  been  in  the  nature  of 
a  quo  ivarranto.  He  is  nearly  recovered,  and  I  hope 
to  God  will  be  able  to  prorogue.  If  a  regency  had 
been  got  up  for  a  short  time,  with  the  present  men 
as  its  ministers,  I  am  confident  Eldon,  rerceval,  &c. 
(v/ho,  when  driven  to  desperation  never  think  of 
violent  measures,  but  only  become  more  base,  cun- 
ning, mean,  &c.)  would  have  licked  the  dust  before  the 
P.  to  good  purpose.  I  wish  the  old  ruffian,*  however, 
may  not  have  renewed  his  term.  .  .  .  Melville  (as  I 
learn  from  Scotland)  wrote  to  Ld.  Grenville  urging 
him  to  Jiavc  me  put  out  of  Parliament,  on  the  ground 
that  I  was  suspected  of  writing  an  article  in  the  Edinr. 
Review  highly  disrespectful  to  Pitt !  .  .  .  My  authority 
is  exceedingly  good — one  of  the  law  officers  of  Govt, 
in  Scotland.  ...  I  conclude  the  article  alluded  to  is 
Ld.  Erskine's  speeches ;  and,  without  saying  I  wrote 
it,  I  can  only  say  I  am  ready  to  avow  all  it  contains, 
in  any  place,  and  before  any  number  of  Grenvilles, 
Pitts  or  Dundasses.  .  .  ." 

"1810,  Temple. 
"...  I  hope  I  need  not  assure  you  that  my  opinion 
as  to  Pitt  is  much  too  deeply  rooted,  and  formed  upon 
too  long  an  examination  of  that  Arch-juggler's  pro- 
ceedings, to  be  at  any  time  even  in  the  least  degree 
modified  by  any  reason  of  party  expediency  or  party 
concert.  1  need  scarcely  add  that  no  other  motive 
(such  as  fear  of  giving  offence)  could  ever  reach  me. 
Indeed,  any  notion  of  such  sentiments  giving  offence 
in  any  quarter  of  our  friends,  could  only  have  the 
effect  of  making  one  speak  more  loudly  if  possible. 
At  the  same  time,  I  fancy  that  personal  feelings  are  all 
that  influence  the  Grenvilles  on  this  point — I  should 
rather  say  Ld.  G.  himself,  for  the  rest  don't  seem  to 
have  liked  Pitt.  ...  I  agree  with  you  entirely  as  to 

*  Georsre  III. 


I20  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  VI. 

the  probable  fate  of  Pitt's  reputation.  He  was  indeed 
a  poor  hand  at  a  measure,  whatever  he  may  have  been 
at  a  speech.  This  all  men  may  easily  perceive  ;  but 
a  little  inquiry  into  the  facts  of  such  questions  as  the 
Regency — Slave  Trade — Restriction  and  E.  I.  Coy. 
makes  one  almost  disbelieve  the  evidence  of  recollec- 
tion, and  doubt  whether  he  actually  did  succeed  in 
hoodwinking  the  country  for  twenty  years  .  .  .  As  to 
this  rebellion  agt.  legitimate  authority,  Ld.  H[olland] 
won't  touch  the  subject,  no  more  will  young  C*  nor 
Eden,  nor  Macdonald,  &c.  ;  and  Lord  Derby  being 
applied  to  by  Thanet,  declined  interfering,  as  did  the 
D.  of  Devonshire  and  Lord  G[rey],  each  on  his  own 
ground — Lord  D.  on  that  of  general,  vague  and  ground- 
less panic,  quite  worthy  of  his  panic  when  Gladstone 
and  Co.  went  to  Knowsley  and  made  him  give  over 
supporting  us  at  L'pool." 


Lord  Folkestone  to  Mr.  Crecvey. 

'' Jany.  9,  18 10. 

"  Dear  Creevey, 

"Are  you  dead  or  sick?  or  have  you  got  a 
place  ?  that  I  do  not  hear  from  you.  Do  not  be  so 
infernally  lazy,  but  write.  ...  I  send  you  the  last 
news  from  Felix.  The  upshot  of  the  whole  will  be 
that,  at  the  nomination,  the  Tory  Candidate  will  have 
a  great  majority :  no  Whig  Candidate  will  start  but 
Burgoyne,  who  will  make  himself  and  the  cause 
ridiculous.  I  am  expecting  a  county  meeting  in  Berks 
on  the  state  of  the  nation,  I  send  you  an  address  I 
have  prepared  for  the  occasion.  I  wish  you  would 
look  at  it,  and  revise  and  criticise  it  with  a  severe,  not 
a  friendly,  eye,  and  let  me  have  your  opinion.  .  .  . 

"  Ever  yours, 

"  Folkestone." 

While  Mr.  Creevey  was  attending  assiduously 
to  his  duties  in  Parliament,  Mrs.  Creevey  sometimes 
remained   at   Brighton,  and  at  such   times  Creevey's 

*  Hon.  James  Abercromby,  M.P  ,  afterwards  Speaker,  who  went 
by  the  nickname  of  Young  Cole,  as  Tierney  did  by  that  of  Old  Cole. 


i8io.]  DIFFICULTIES   OF   THE   OPPOSITION.  121 

letters    assumed    the    character    of    an    almost    con- 
tinuous journal. 

^^  Saturday,  20th  Jan. — .  .  .  Left  Brighton  with 
Grattan :  dined  at  the  Piazza :  went  at  night  to 
Brooks's :  found  Whitbread  there  in  consequence  of 
my  letter  :  various  others,  all  civil  to  the  greatest 
degree.  Morpeth,  Lord  R.  Spencer,  Fitzpatrick, 
Sefton,  all  greeted  me  most  cordiall}^,  and  then  I  had 
a  lon^  prose  with  Whitbread. 

''  Lord  Grey  continues  his  insolence,  but  the  others 
are  all  courting  him  prodigiously — Holland,  the  Duke 
of  Bedford  and  Grenville,  and  with  the  latter  he  has 
unreserved  conversations  upon  all  subjects.  The 
amendment  is  Grenville's  drawing  and  Whitbread 
quite  approves  it.  It  is  no  great  things,  but  it  will 
do.  .  .  . 

"215/. — .  .  .  Before  I  got  to  town,  notes  were  out 
for  a  meeting  at  Ponsonby's  to-morrow  night.  There 
was  a  note  at  my  house  for  Ord,  but  none  for  me. 
Ossulston  told  me  this  morning  that  Lord  Grey  had 
asked  him  whether  '  he  thought  Creevey  would  go  to 
Ponsonby's  if  he  was  asked.'  On  Ossulston  saying 
'Yes,'  the  other  shook  his  head  with  an  air  of  distrust. 
Ossulston  wished  me  to  go,  but  I  said  certainly  not, 
upon  such  a  case  as  that.  From  his  house  I  went  to 
Lord  Grey's,  and  found  him  alone.  He  was  civil,  in 
good  spirits,  and  looked  remarkably  well — talked 
generally  of  our  running  the  Ministers  hard  :  but  not 
a  word  in  detail  of  Ponsonby's  meeting,  or  anything 
else,  and  so  we  parted. 

"  I  then  went  to  Whitbread's,  who,  I  found,  would 
not  go  to  Ponsonby's,  considering  himself  to  have 
been  personally  insulted  by  him;  but  very  wisely 
deciding  that  his  case  should  not  be  made  a  reason 
for  any  one  else  absenting  himself.  .  .  .  He  told  me 
that  Tierney  had  said  to  Ponsonby,  in  going  over  the 
persons  to  be  asked  and  arriving  at  my  name,  that 
'  Ponsonby  must  himself  decide,  for  he  knew  as  much 
as  he  [Tierney]  did.' 

"On  coming  home  to  dress,  I  found  a  note 
from  Abercromb}'',  stating  that  he  asked  a  minute's 
conversation  with  me  at  Brooks's  at  night ;  which  was. 


122  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  VI. 

that  he  had  been  requested  to  learn  from  me,  with 
every  friendl}'  wish  to  consult  my  own  feelings, 
whether,  if  I  was  written  to  by  Ponsonby,  I  wd. 
come  to  his  house,  and  that  it  was  thought  right  to 
tell  me  this  communication  was  not  made  at  the 
suggestion  of  Mr.  Tierney.  I  said  if  I  had  received  a 
letter  from  Ponsonby  I  had  no  doubt  I  should  have 
gone,  and  so  it  ended.  Gentlemen  got  into  corners 
to  whisper  '  that  they  had  no  doubt  but  Creevey 
would  go  to  Ponsonby's,'  and  the  N  arquis  of  Lans- 
downe  and  I  paraded  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  together, 
and  he  was  much  more  affable  than  he  has  been  for 
ages.  .  .  ,  Lord  Grey  began  to  be  very  gracious,  and 
begged  me  finally  to  write  to  Maxwell  and  Sir  Charles 
Pole  to  bring  them  from  Brighton.  On  my  telling 
him  Pole  was  not  likely  to  be  well  enough  to  come, 
he  said  : — '  Damn  him  !  I  don't  believe  he  would  vote 
with  me  if  he  came.  The  Doctor  (Sidmouth)  can't 
make  up  his  mind.' 

"  22nd. — A  note  in  George  Ponsonby's  own  writing, 
and  sent  by  his  servant,  to  request  me  to  come  to  his 
house  to-night ;  and  so  I  shall  go.  .  .  .  Went  to 
Ponsonby's :  Milton,  Lord  A.  Hamilton,  Ossulston, 
Romilly,  Ferguson,  Coke  of  Norfolk,  &c.,  there  .  .  . 
so  I  am  glad  I  went.  Much  pampered — pointed  by 
Lord  George  Cavendish. 

"  23;'^. — Parliament  met.  The  King's  speech  very 
long,  and  capable  of  being  worked  to  the  devil.  .  .  . 
Lord  Barnard  moved  the  address.  Peel  seconded  it, 
and  made  a  capital  figure  for  a  first  speech.*  I  think  it 
was  a  prepared  speech,  but  it  was  a  most  produceable 
PittisJi  performance,  both  in  matter  and  manner.  I 
perceive  we  shall  by  no  means  cut  the  figure  to-night 
that  Tierney  has  held  out.  .  .  .  Castlereagh  started 
from  under  the  gallery,  two  rows  behind  Canning, 
and  everything  that  related  personally  to  himself  he 
did  with  a  conscious  sense  of  being  right,  and  a  degree 
of  lively  animation  I  never  saw  in  him  before.  Base 
as  the  House  is,  it  recognised  by  its  cheers  the  claims 
of  Castlereagh  to  its  approbation,  and  they  gave  it. 

*  The  Speaker,  Charles  Abbot  [afterwards  Lord  Colchester],  pro- 
nounced it  to  be  "the  best  first  speech  since  that  of  Mr.  Pitt."  Peel 
was  only  two  and  twenty. 


i8io.]  DEBATE    ON    THE   ADDRESS.  123 

When  he  came  to  his  expedition,  he  fell  a  hundred 
fathoms  lower  than  the  bogs  of  Walcheren. 

"Canning  was  sufficiently  master  of  himself  to  let 
off  one  of  his  regular  compositions,  with  all  the 
rhetorical  flourishes  that  used  to  set  his  audience  in  a 
roar;  but  he  spoke  from  a  different  atmosphere.  He 
was  at  least  two  feet  separated  from  the  Treasury 
bench,  and  in  the  whole  course  of  his  speech  he  could 
not  extort  a  single  cheer.  ,  .  .  Whitbread  was  stout 
and  strong — upon  Wellington  particularly.  .  .  .  Not- 
withstanding Tierney's  calculations  and  prophecy  that 
we  should  be  in  a  majority,  we  were  beat  by  96.  .  .  . 
Their  strength  was  composed  of  five  parties — the 
Government — Castlereagh's — Canning's — the  Doctor's 
and  the  Saints.  In  looking  at  the  majority  going  out, 
Castlereagh  said  with  the  ga3^est  face  possible : — 
'Well,  Creevey,  how  do  we  look?'  .  .  . 

"  We  had  a  grand  fuss  in  telling  the  House.  The 
Princess  of  Wales,  who  had  been  present  the  whole 
time,  would  stay  it  out  to  know  the  numbers,  and  so 
remained  in  her  place  in  the  gallery.  The  Speaker 
very  significantly  called  several  times  for  strangers  to 
withdraw ;  which  she  defied,  and  sat  on.  At  last  the 
little  fellow  became  irritated — started  from  his  chair, 
and,  looking  up  plump  in  the  faces  of  her  and  her 
female  friend,  halloaed  out  most  fiercely : — '  If  there 
are  any  strangers  in  the  House  they  must  withdraw.' 
They  being  the  only  two,  they  struck  and  withdrew.  .  .  . 
In  the  Lords,  Grey  made  an  admirable  speech,  dis- 
puted the  military,  moral  and  intellectual  fame  of 
Lord  Wellington  most  capitally,  and  called  loudly 
upon  the  Marquis  [Wellesley],  as  the  Atlas  of  the 
falling  state,  to  come  forward  and  justify  the  victory 
of  Talavera. 

"24///. — Dined  at  a  coffee-house:  went  to  Brooks's 
at  night.  Lord  Grey  came  in  drunk  from  the  Duke  of 
York's  where  he  had  been  dining.  He  came  and  sat 
by  me  on  the  same  sofa,  talked  as  well  as  he  could 
over  the  division  of  the  night  before,  and  damned  with 
all  his  might  and  main  Marquis  Wellesley,  of  whose 
profligate  establishment  I  told  him  some  anecdotes, 
which  he  swallowed  as  greedily  as  he  had  done  the 
Duke's  wine.  He  and  Whitbread  and  I  sat  together 
and  were  as  merry  as  if  we  had  been  the  best  friends 


124  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  VI. 

in  the  world.  .  .  .  Then  the  Right  Hon.  George 
Ponsonby  came  and  sat  by  me,  and  we  talked  over 
the  last  session  a  little;  but  I  found  him  very  sore 
and  very  bad. 

"25/?/. — Perceval  has  given  notice  of  thanks  to 
Wellington  on  Monday.  .  .  . 

"26///. — .  .  .  On  Lord  Porchester's  motion  for  an 
enquiry  into  the  expedition  to  Walcheren,  we  beat  the 
Ministers  by  a  majority  of  nine.  I  did  not  expect  it; 
tho'  I  saw  that,  if  we  could  move  together,  our  first 
division  (of  167)  on  the  Address  must  be  fatal  to  them. 
It  is  the  most  perfect  triumph  possible  for  the  enquiry 
is  to  be  public,  like  that  on  the  Duke  of  York,  not  in  a 
Select  Committee.  There  were  circumstances  in  the 
division  above  all  price.  Canning  was  in  the  minority 
with  Perceval — Castlereagh  in  the  majority  with  us. 
He  sat  aloof  with  4  friends;  and  these  5,  instead  of 
going  out,  decided  the  question  in  our  favor.  Had 
they  gone  out  we  should  have  been  beat  by  one  !  I 
counted  the  villains  going  out,  and  in  coming  up  the 
House  I  pronounced  with  confidence  that  they  were 
beat.  Castlereagh  bent  his  head  from  his  elevated 
bench  down  almost  to  the  floor  to  catch  m.y  eye,  and 
I  gave  him  a  sign  that  all  was  well.  He  could  scarce 
contain  himself  :  he  hid  his  face  ;  but  when  the  division 
was  over,  he  was  quite  extravagant  in  the  expression 
of  his  happiness.  ... 

"  27///. — Walked  in  the  streets  ;  they  were  all  alive 
and  merry.  Tierney  says  '  the  business  of  last  night 
will  end  in  smoak/  which  confirms  me  in  my  con- 
viction of  its  infinite  importance.  ...  I  do  not  think 
any  minister  that  ever  was  could  stand  3.  public  en<\\i\ry 
into  our  ordinary  expeditions ;  much  less  such  a 
minister  as  this  into  such  an  expedition.  .  .  .  Walked 
with  Bainbridge.  He  told  me  that,  after  our  conver- 
sation two  months  ago,  in  which  we  agreed  entirely 
about  the  fatal  influence  of  Tierney  over  Grey,  and 
the  necessity  of  these  leaders  having  their  eyes  opened 
as  to  their  conduct  to  the  Insurgents,*  and  the  utter 
ruin  such  a  system  would  bring  upon  them,  he  was  so 
impressed  with  the  matter  that  he  went  down  to  Lord 

*  The  extreme  wing  of  the  Opposition,  who  afterwards  assumed 
the  ominous  title  of  "the  Mountain." 


iSio.]  DIVIDED   COUNSELS.  12$ 

Thanet  to  have  it  out  with  him;  who  agreed  with  him 
in  everything,  and  he  (Lord  Thanet)  was  induced  to 
write  an  elaborate  letter  to  Grey,  expostulating  with 
him  upon  all  their  various  proceedings. 

"28///,  Sunday. — Dined  at  Western's.  I  have  got 
so  much  master  of  the  Talavera  campaign,  that  I 
meant  to  have  had  a  round  upon  it;  but  I  hnd  Whit- 
bread  is  so  well  primed  upon  the  subject,  and  so 
many  others  in  the  same  way,  that  I  shall  desist. 
Supped  with  Lord  Thanet  at  Brooks's,  from  mere 
curiosity,  having  heard  so  much  of  his  talents.  He 
is  certainly  a  quick,  clever  man,  but  his  earldom  has 
done  great  things  for  his  fame  in  the  intellectual 
line.  .  .  . 

"  Lord  John  Townshend  attacked  George  Ponsonby 
with  the  most  honest  indignation  on  notes  having  been 
sent  out  to  say  there  wd.  be  no  division  to-morrow 
on  the  thanks  to  Wellington,  after  notes  had  previously 
gone  round  to  say  there  would  be.  .  .  .  The  Right 
Hon.  George  could  only  say,  over  and  over  again — 
'  I  don't  agree  with  you,  my  lord  ' — '  My  lord,  1  by  no 
means  agree  with  you.' 

"  29///. — All  confusion  to-day,  owing  to  this  change 
about  dividing  on  the  thanks  to  Wellington.  Rank 
mutiny  has  broken  out,  and  it  is  now  said  we  are 
certainly  to  divide.  Milton,  Folkestone,  Lord  J. 
Townshend,  George  Ponsonby,  junr. — in  short,  all 
the  Insurgents.  This  is  all  because  our  leaders, 
having  once  been  in  a  majority,  cannot  bear  ever  to 
be  in  a  minority  again.  A  damned,  canting  fellow  in 
the  House,  Mr.  Manning,  complained  of  members' 
names  being  printed  *  as  a  breach  of  privilege,  and  so 
it  wd.  have  passed  off,  if  I  had  not  shewed  them  that, 
so  far  from  its  being  a  breach  of  privilege,  it  was  a 
vote  in  King  William's  time  'that  members'  names 
should  be  printed,  that  the  country  might  know  who 
did,  and  who  did  not,  their  duty.'  .  .  .  Wellington's 
thanks  are  put  off  till  Thursday.  .  .  .  Lord  Huntly 
ordered  to  attend  at  the  Bar  of  the  House  as  a  witness 
on  the  enquiry  into  the  Scheldt  expedition.  So  now 
the  Ministers  are  nail'd. 

"  30///. — Went   at    Milton's  desire  to  help  him    to 

*  I.e.  in  the  division  lists  published  in  the  newspapers. 


126  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  VI. 

draw  up  an  amendment  to  Wellington's  thanks.  I 
shall  like  to  hand  Sir  Arthur  and  his  battle  down  to 
posterity  in  the  Journals  in  its  proper  colours.  I 
have  quite  pleased  Milton  with  my  amendment;  but 
was  sorry  when  I  left  him  to  find  that  he  meant  to 
take  it  to  Ponsonby  for  his  approbation." 

Creevey  here  quotes  his  draft  amendment,  which 
is  very  long. 

"Surely  this  hits  him  hard  enough,  and  yet  it  is 
mild  as  milk;  but  the  great  merit  of  it  is  that  it  is 
quoting  his  own  dispatches  in  his  own  words. 

"  Met  Grey  and  Tierney  in  the  streets.  They  both 
stopt,  and  I  begun  about  the  thanks  to  Wellington. 
Grey  immediately  said  he  never  could  see  the  sense 
of  there  being  no  division  in  the  House  of  Commons 
on  that  subject ;  that  he  himself  would  have  divided 
the  Lords  if  he  could  have  found  anybody  to  divide 
with  him,  and,  as  it  was,  he  had  protested  against  it. 
Tierney  blamed  the  folly  of  the  note  which  said  there 
was  to  be  no  division,  and  let  out  that  Lord  Temple 
was  to  divide  for  Wellesley  if  there  was  a  division  ; 
and  here  is  the  whole  mystery  about  keeping  off  a 
division.  But  we  are  to  divide :  and  the  leaders 
with  us. 

"315^. — .  .  .  Perceval  fought  three  pitched  battles 
on  naming  the  Finance  Committee,  and  was  beat  in 
them  all.  In  that  between  Leycester  and  Wm. 
Cavendish,  about  which  I  was  most  anxious,  I  saw 
the  tellers  count  wrong  by  3.  I  called  to  have  the 
House  told  again,  and  again  I  saw  them  make  the 
same  mistake.  I  shewed  it  to  General  Tarleton,  who 
became  furious ;  and  the  Speaker  called  him  and  me 
to  order  in  the  most  boisterous  m.anner.  It  ended 
in  the  House  being  counted  a  third  time,  and  the 
tellers  were  sent  out  into  the  galleries  to  be  more 
certain.  In  going  they  picked  up  young  Peel,  the 
seconder  of  the  Address,  in  concealment,  who,  being 
brought  in,  voted  for  Cavendish.  They  then  counted 
the  House  again,  and  they  counted  right,  making  3 
more  than  before,  and  with  Peel  making  the  majority 
of  4.     Otherwise  we  had  been  equal,  and  the  Speaker 


i8io.]  THE   WALCHEREN    ENQUIRY.  12/ 

would  have  decided  the  thing  undoubtedly  against  us. 
We  then  stuffed  Sir  John  Newport  and  Sir  George 
Warrender  down  their  throats,  without  their  daring 
to  oppose  us.  There  never  was  a  more  compleat 
victory,  and  the  majority  of  the  Committee  is  now  so 
good,  anything  may  be  done  with  it.  So  much  so, 
that  Freemantle  said  after  all  was  over  to  Mr.  Caven- 
dish, that  'if  Lords  Grenville  and  Grey  come  in,  this 
Committee  will  be  a  terrible  thing  for  them  ! ' 

''February  ist. — All  our  indignation  against  Welling- 
ton ended  in  smoak.  Opposition  to  his  thanks  was 
so  unpopular,  that  some  of  the  stoutest  of  our  crew 
slunk  away;  or  rather,  they  were  dispersed  by  the 
indefatigable  intrigues  of  the  Wellesleys  and  the 
tricks  of  Tierney.  ...  In  short  he  and  our  more 
ostensible  leaders  cut  the  ground  from  under  our  feet 
in  deference  to  Lord  Grenville.  My  consolation  is 
that  they  will  be  dragged  thro'  plenty  of  dirt  by  this 
same  great  man  and  his  friends  the  Wellesleys.  It 
is  already  given  out  by  the  Grenvilles  that  the  present 
Finance  Committee,  composed  as  it  is,  would  overturn 
any  Government.  It  certainly  will  produce  most 
unpleasant  matter  for  placemen  and  pensioners." 

On  2nd  February  began  the  inquiry  in  Committee 
of  the  whole  House  into  the  Walcheren  expedition. 
Witnesses  gave  evidence  at  the  Bar  of  the  House. 
On  the  motion  of  Mr.  Yorke,  the  galleries  of  the 
House  were  cleared  of  strangers,  in  order  to  prevent 
incorrect  reports  of  the  proceedings  being  published 
in  anticipation  of  the  publication  of  the  official 
minutes.  During  the  course  of  the  inquiry  a  long 
and  detailed  description  was  forwarded  daily  to  Mrs. 
Creevey  by  her  husband  ;  but  as  the  character  of  this 
famous  inquiry  is  fully  on  record,  it  does  not  seem 
desirable  to  quote  more  than  a  few  sentences  here 
and  there. 

"8///. — .  .  .  A    message    from    the    King    to    the 
House   of   Commons   for   ;^2ooo   per   ann.   for   Lord 


128  THE   CREEVEY  PAPERS.  [CH.  VI. 

Wellington.      This  is  too  bad!     The  question  is  to 
come  up  to-morrow  week.  .  .  . 

^^gth,—,  .  .  Went  with  Lord  Archibald  Hamilton 
to  the  Westminster  meeting  in  Palace  Yard.  There 
were  5000  or  6000  persons  present,  apparently  of  the 
lowest  extraction.  Cochrane  and  Burdett  spoke  with 
great  applause,  and  Burdett  has  since  presented  to 
the  House  the  petition  of  the  meeting  for  a  reform  of 
Parliament— the  same  petition  that  was  presented  by 
Lord  Grey  in  1798,  and  beginning— '  Whereas  by  a 
petition  presented  in  1798  by  Charles  Grey  Esq.,  now 
Earl  Grey.'  This  is  comical  enough,  and  we  shall  see 
how  he  takes  it. 

''Feb.  17^//.— Call'd  on  Whitbread,  Lord  Derby, 
Mrs.  Grey  and  Lord  Downshire.  Walked  with 
Abercromby,  who  had  had  a  letter  from  his  brother, 
who  is  with  Wellington's  army.  It  is  dated  the  31st 
January,  and  they  had  just  heard  that  a  corps  of 
'45,000  French  were  at  Salamanca.  If  this  be  true, 
Wellington  has  very  little  time  to  effect  his  escape 
from  these  two  armies  that  are  approaching  him  in 
different  directions.  His  career  approaches  very 
rapidly  to  a  conclusion ;  but  what  is  one  to  think,  at 
such  a  period,  of  the  King's  message  yesterday  to 
Parliament  to  propose  our  taking  30,000  Portuguese 
into  our  pay?*  .  .  . 

"  Dined  at  George  Ponsonby's  with  Lord  Temple, 
Lord  Porchester,  Charles  Wynne,  Bowes-Daly,  Byng, 
Calcraft,  Abercromby,  Petty,  Brougham,  Maxwell 
and  some  others.  Went  to  the  opera  with  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Ord  who  had  dined  at  Lord  Ponsonby's,  where 
a  political  conversation  had  taken  place.  .  .  .  Lord 
Ponsonby  expressed  himself  quite  delighted  with  the 
present  conduct  of  every  part  of  the  Opposition— that 
Whitbread  was  everything  that  was  conciliatory,  and 
that  he  (Lord  Ponsonby)  would  vote  for  reform  in 
Parliament  (tho'  he  did  not  approve  of  it),  or  any- 
thing else,  to  keep  the  party  together.  ...  He  seems 

*  With  this  result,  that,  in  July,  1813,  Wellington  was  able  to 
write  to  Lord  Liverpool  :  "  The  Portuguese  are  now  the  fighting  cocks 
of  the  army.  I  believe  we  owe  their  merits  more  to  the  care  we  have 
taken  of  their  pockets  and  their  bellies,  than  to  the  instruction  we 
have  given  them  "  [Despatches,  x.  569]. 


iSio.]  WELLINGTON  AND  THE  COMMON   COUNCIL.   129 

wanting  to  get  back  to  his  old  place  and  not  knowing 
how. 

"  igth. — .  .  .  Went  into  the  House  of  Lords,  and 
up  comes  my  Lord  Grey  with  a  tender  squeeze  of 
my  hand,  to  tell  me  with  the  utmost  animation  an 
excellent  story  of  Wellesley.  He  has  written  to 
Lord  Grenville  to  tell  him  he  is  sick,  and  begging 
him  not  to  agitate  the  question  of  taking  the  30,000 
Portuguese  troops  into  our  pay  to-day  in  his  absence. 
In  addition  to  this  (conceiving  himself  unworthy  of 
credit,  I  suppose)  he  encloses  an  opinion  or  certifi- 
cate of  his  physician — four  sides  of  paper  upon  the 
nature  of  his  constitution !  The  physician's  name  is 
Dr.  Knighton,  accoucheur  (as  Grey  says)  to  Poll 
Raffle,  Wellesley's  Cyprian. 

"  My  Lord  Grey  came  to  me  again  to  tell  me  of 
'a  damned  job'  by  Bishop  Mansel's  brother.  .  .  . 
When  I  saw  him  cast  his  canvassing  eyes  about  him 
to  bow  to  every  member  of  the  Commons  he  barely 
knew,  and  then  thought  of  what  I  had  seen  of  his 
pride  and  tyranny  at  Howick  a  few  months  ago,  I 
knew  not  whether  one  ought  to  laugh  or  cry  at  such 
folly  in  a  person  who  might  be  so  powerful  if  he  was 
right." 

The  next  few  days  supply  commentary  chiefly 
upon  the  course  of  the  inquiry  into  the  conduct  of 
Lord  Chatham  and  Sir  Richard  Strachan  in  the  ill- 
fated  Walcheren  expedition.  Mr.  Creevey  says  that 
universal  indignation  was  concentrated  upon  Lord 
Chatham,  who  tried  to  throw  the  blame  upon  Sir 
Richard  and  the  Admiralty. 

"  2isf. — Called  on  Waithman  *  with  some  anxiety 
that  he  was  going  to  fail  on  Friday  on  the  question 
in  the  Common  Council  about  Wellington's  pension, 
but  he  seems  confident  they  shall  not.  He  at  once 
embraced  my  idea  of  what  ought  to  be  done,  and  of 

*  Robert  Waithman  [i  764-1 833],  an  active  reformer,  whose  career 
is  commemorated  in  the  name  of  a  street  near  Blackfriars  Bridge,  and 
by  one  of  the  two  obelisks  in  Ludgate  Circus, 

K 


130  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  VI. 

his  own  accord  requested  me  to  draw  a  petition  for 
them  to  the  House  of  Commons,  of  which  I  think  I 
can  make  a  very  good  case  for  them,  and  a  damned 
pinching  one  for  Wellington.  .  .  .  Dined  at  Sam 
fieywood's,  with  Lords  Grey,  Lauderdale  and  Derby, 
Romilly,  &c.  .  .  .  Lord  Derby  told  us  that  Sir  Henry 
Halford  had  told  him  yesterday  that  he  had  been 
detained  the  Lord  knows  how  long  with  Lord  Chat- 
ham, making  him  up  by  draughts  and  nervous 
medicines  for  his  examination  last  night,  and  after  all 
he  sent  word  he  was  ill,  and  could  not  come.  .  .  . 

"  22iid. — Took  the  petition  I  had  drawn  to  Waith- 
man,  but  he  has  drawn  a  good  one  himself,  so  I  don't 
know  that  he  will  use  mine.  .  .  .  The  Opposition 
in  the  House  of  Lords  cut  a  great  figure  last  night, 
independent  of  their  powerful  number.  ...  I  heard 
Wellesley  open  his  plan  of  taking  the  30,000  Portu- 
guese into  our  pay,  and  the  most  sanguine  expecta- 
tions I  have  ever  formed  respecting  him  were  more 
than  realised.  His  speech  (tho'  he  had  shammed  ill 
for  the  purpose  of  preparing  it)  was  an  absolute  and 
unqualified  failure.  .  .  .  Lord  Grenville's  answer  to 
him  was  one  of  the  most  powerful  speeches  I  have 
ever  heard :  he  shook  his  former  friend  to  atoms.  .  .  . 
Lord  Lansdowne,  I  hear,  made  an  admirable  speech, 
not  the  less  valuable  for  containing  a  very  severe 
censure  on  the  low  and  dirty  Sidmouth  who  took 
part  against  them.  .  .  . 

"23/v/. — Went  to  Lauderdale's  at  his  request  to 
look  at  some  motions  he  is  going  to  make  about 
India,  and  spent  a  most  agreeable  hour  with  him. 
There  is  the  devil  to  pay  with  the  India  Company, 
and  the  Government  have  given  up  for  the  present 
bringing  forward  the  renewal  of  their  charter.  I 
went  to  Lord  Hutchinson  afterwards.  He  thinks 
Wellington  ought  to  be  hanged.  He  says  that  in 
his  last  dispatch  but  one  he  writes  word  that  he  has 
25,000  British  troops — that  he  is  expecting  5000  more 
— that  he  has  25,000  Portuguese  troops  almost  as 
good  as  British — that  the  French  are  in  the  greatest 
difficulties  in  the  Sierra  Morena,  and  that  Portugal  is 
in  perfect  safety.  In  his  last  dispatch  he  has  written 
under  the  greatest  possible  fright,  and  has  pressed 
the  Government  for  positive  instructions  whether  he 


i8io.]  DEFEAT   OF   THE   GOVERNMENT.  I3I 

is  to  come  away  or  stay.     Lord  Hutchinson  thinks 
orders  are  gone  for  him  to  evacuate  Portugal." 

How  slender  were  the  grounds  for  Lord  Hutchin- 
son's version  of  Wellington's  despatches  may  be  seen 
by  perusing  those  here  referred  to,  viz.  Wellington's 
letters  to  Lord  Liverpool  of  31st  January  and  9th 
February,  18 10.*  The  possibility,  even  the  pro- 
bability, of  evacuation  is  calmly  discussed,  with  an 
assurance  that,  should  he  be  forced  to  it,  he  could 
bring  the  army  away  in  safety.  But  how  little 
Wellington  had  lost  faith  in  his  power  to  hold  his 
ground  is  shown  by  the  fact  that,  at  this  very  time, 
the  lines  of  Torres  Vedras  were  being  secretly,  but 
swiftly,  fortified. 

"Mr.  Whitbread's  motion  [for  papers  relating  to 
the  Walcheren  expedition]  was  carried  by  178  against 
171.  I  never  expected  to  be  in  a  majority  upon  such 
a  question,  nor  did  the  House  of  Commons  know 
what  they  were  doing  when  they  voted  as  they  did. 
The  vote  is  the  severest  possible  censure  upon  the 
whole  transaction  —  upon  Lord  Chatham,  upon  the 
King  and  upon  Ministers.  It  is  making  all  these 
different  parties  do  justice  to  an  unsupported  indi- 
vidual (Sir  Richard  Strachan)  whether  the  King  will 
or  no.  It  is  a  direct  vote  against  royal  favoritism, 
and  in  favor  of  justice  and  fair  play.  There  has  been 
nothing  like  it  in  the  present  reign.  The  truth  is  that 
people  did  not  consider  the  blow  it  gave  to  the  King, 
but  they  voted  as  against  the  rascality  of  Chatham  and 
in  favor  of  Strachan.  .  .  . 

"Waithman  carried  his  motion  in  the  Common 
Council  for  a  petition  to  the  House  of  Commons 
against  the  Wellington  Pension  Bill.  This  was  one 
of  the  best  hits  I  ever  made — to  get  this  history  of 
Wellington  thus  handed  down  to  posterity  on  the 
Journals  of  Parliament,  at  the  suit  of  the  first  and 

*  Wellington's  Despatches,  vol.  v.  pp.  464,  480. 


132  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.        [Ch.  VI. 

greatest  Corporation  of  the  capital  itself  of  England. 
Whether  it  is  my  petition,  or  Waithman's,  or  a 
mixture,  I  am  indifferent :  either  will  do  the  business. 
The  obligation  of  the  Wellesley  family  to  me  is  this 
— that,  but  for  me,  my  Lord  Wellington  would  only 
have  been  the  object  of  a  resolution  of  the  Common 
Council ;  whereas  they  have  now  kindly  introduced 
him  with  their  strictures  upon  his  character  to  parlia- 
mentary notice  and  history.  .  .  . 

*'  24///. — .  .  .  The  vote  of  last  night  produces  the 
greatest  sensation  in  the  town  to-day;  and  I  must 
confess  we  have  used  our  victory  with  no  great 
moderation.  St.  James  Street  and  Pall  Mall  have 
been  paraded  by  the  Opposition  for  three  or  four 
hours  in  numerous  divisions,  all  overflowing  with 
jokes,  as  well  at  the  expense  of  the  Ministers  as  of 
the  Gentleman  at  the  end  of  the  Mall,  and  of  the  satis- 
laction  he  will  derive  from  the  address  when  Perceval 
carries  it  to  him  at  Windsor. 

"Another  event  of  great  importance  has  taken 
place  this  morning.  Perry,  of  the  Morning  Chronicle, 
has  been  tried  in  the  King's  Bench  for  a  libel  con- 
tained in  his  paper  some  time  past  upon  the  King 
and  his  reign.  Perry  defended  himself  against  a  very 
vindictive  speech  of  Gibbs's,  and  the  jury  declared 
him  Not  Guilty  in  less  than  2  minutes.  So  the  Press 
is  safe  :  at  least  as  yet." 

Sir  Francis  Burdett  having  published  in  Cobbett's 
Political  Register  a  letter  to  his  constituents  declaring 
the  imprisonment  of  a  Radical  orator  by  order  of  the 
House  of  Commons  to  be  illegal,  the  Speaker's 
warrant  was  issued  for  his  arrest.  He  stood  a  siege 
of  two  days  in  his  own  house,  being  supported  by 
the  populace,  whose  idol  he  was  for  the  moment. 
One  life  was  lost  in  the  mellay  ;  finally,  an  entrance 
was  effected,  and  Burdett  was  imprisoned  in  the 
Tower,  obtaining  his  release  on  the  prorogation  of 
Parliament.  The  following  invitation  was  issued 
from  his  prison  : — 


iSio.]         A   SAILOR'S   OPINION   OF   STRACHAN.  I33 

Sir  Francis  Bttrdeti  to  Mr.  Crcevey. 

"Tower,  May  10,  1810. 

"Dear  Crevey, 

"  Pray  look  into  this  case — a  job  of  the 
Church.  When  will  [you]  come  again  to  dinner? 
You  shall  have  two  bottles  of  claret  next  time,  and  as 
good  fish, 

"  Yours, 

"  F.   BuRDETT. 

"  I  hope  Mrs.  Crevey  is  well." 


Capt.  Graham  Moore,  R.N.,  to  Mr.  Crecvey. 

"Deal,  March  9th,  18 10, 

"...  I  wish  I  had  time  or  you  had  leisure  to  learn 
from  me,  if  you  do  not  know,  what  kind  of  fellow 
Strachan  is.  In  two  words,  it  is  scared}^  possible  to 
have  more  zeal,  ardour  and  spirit  on  service  than  he 
has.  He  slaved  like  a  Dray  Horse  during  the  whole 
of  the  offensive  operations  on  the  Scheldt,  but  he 
never  troubled  his  head  about  documents,  being 
always  more  ready  to  blame  himself  than  to  prepare 
to  meet  accusation.  He  never  approved  of  the  plan, 
but  determined  to  exert  all  his  faculties  for  its  success. 
We  have  not  a  more  gallant  fellow,  nor  a  more  active, 
complete  seaman,  in  our  service.  He  is  continually 
getting  into  scrapes,  owing  to  his  vivacity  and  open- 
ness, and  very  apt  to  be  influenced  by  designing 
people.  .  .  .  Lord  C[hatham]  has  treated  him  in  the 
most  shabby  way,  and  imposed  on  his  good  nature,  of 
which  he  has  a  large  share.  .  .  ." 

William  Cobbett  was  at  this  time  undergoing  his 
sentence  of  ;^iooo  fine  and  two  years'  imprisonment 
for  his  article  in  the  Weekly  Register  of  ist  July,  1809, 
denouncing  the  flogging  of  some  mutinous  militiamen 
at  Ely,  who  were  sentenced  to  receive  500  lashes 
each.  At  the  present  day  the  punishment  of  the 
journalist  seems  as  outrageous  as  that  against  which 


134  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  VI. 

he    inveighed,   but    a    century    has    wrought    some 
curious  changes  in  our  sentiments. 

Wm.  Cobbett  to  Mr.  Crcevey. 

"Newgate,  24th  Sept.,  1810. 

".  .  .  You  will  easily  guess  that  I  have  little  time 
to  spare ;  but  the  fact  is,  that  I  seldom  do  anything 
after  two  o'clock,  when  I  dine.  The  best  way,  how- 
ever, is  to  favour  me  with  your  company  at  dinner  at 
two,  and  then  the  day  may  be  of  your  appointing,  I 
being  always  at  home,  you  know,  and  every  day  being 
a  day  of  equal  favour.  ...  I  give  beef  stakes  and 
porter.  I  may  vary  my  food  to  mutton  chops,  but 
never  vary  the  drink.  I  think  it  is  a  duty  to  God 
and  Man  to  put  the  Nabobs  upon  the  coals  without 
delay.  They  have  long  been  cooking  and  devouring 
the  wretched  people  both  of  England  and  India." 

Henry  Brougham,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Brougham,  Penrith,  Sunday  [1812]. 

".  .  .  As  for  Portugal,  with  all  our  good  luck,  we 
are  now  clearly  paying  millions  for  a  few  periods  in 
the  H.  of  C. — that  Canning,  &c.,  may  twit  one  man 
and  praise  t'other,  and  tell  us  how  '  every  French- 
man that  falls  is  in  itself  a  gain,'  &c.,  &c.  It  would 
be  a  dear  bargain  if  Pitt  were  the  speaker;  but  such 
driv'ling  as  zve  pay  for  is  past  all  bearing. 

"I  don't  know  Cobbet,  or  I  would  send  him  a 
good  motto  from  Dr.  Johnson  about  special  juries 
and  imprisonment.  The  lines  are  very  pat  in  them- 
selves as  a  quotation,  but  coming  from  Johnson  they 
are  still  better ;  and  they  clearly  contain  his  opinion, 
at  least  on  special  juries,  for  they  occur  in  his  '  London,' 
imitated  from  the  3rd  Satire  of  Juvenal,  and  the 
original  passage  has  nothing  parallel. 

" '  A  single  jail  in  Alfred's  golden  reign 

Could  half  the  Nation's  criminals  contain  ; 
Fair  Justice  then,  without  constraint  adored, 
Held  high  the  steady  scale,  but  sheath'd  the  sword ; 
No  spies  were  paid — no  special  juries  known- 
Blest  Age  !  but  ah,  how  difPrent  from  our  own  ! ' " 


(     135     ) 


CHAPTER  VII. 

1811. 

The  death  of  his  youngest  and  favourite  child, 
Princess  Amelia,  in  the  autumn  of  1810  upset  the  poor 
old  King's  intellect  for  the  last  time.  He  settled  into 
hopeless  insanity,  and  the  chief  business  before 
Parliament  in  181 1  was  a  Bill  constituting  the  Prince 
of  Wales  Regent.  Great  was  the  stir  among  the 
Whigs,  who  began  fitting  each  other  into  the  great 
and  little  offices  of  the  new  Government ;  for  who 
could  doubt  that  the  great  turn  of  events,  so  long 
and  ardently  anticipated,  was  indeed  at  hand,  and 
that  the  Prince,  as  head  of  the  Whig  party,  would 
send  his  father's  servants  to  the  right  about,  and 
form  a  Ministry  of  his  own  friends.  Judging  from 
Creevey's  correspondence,  neither  he  nor  any  of 
his  friends  entertained  the  slightest  suspicion  about 
the  sincerity  of  the  Prince's  devotion  to  Liberal 
principles,  nor  understood  how  much  his  politics 
consisted  of  opposition  to  the  Court  party.  It 
was,  therefore,  with  as  much  surprise  as  dismay 
that  Creevey  beheld  the  change  in  the  Prince's 
attitude  towards  Ministers  as  soon  as  he  assumed 
the  Regency. 


13^  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  VII. 

Lord  Erskine  to  Mr.  Crcevcy. 

"  Reigate,  Jany.  lo,  1811. 

"Dear  Creevey, 

"I  send  you  the  Act  which  you  thought 
never  could  have  passed.  .  .  .  Lord  Eldon  told  me  he 
never  had  heard  of  it  and  expressed  his  astonishment. 
He  said  that  those  gentlemen  who  had  served  the 
King  as  foreign  ministers  at  a  period  when  the  King 
had  a  power  by  law  to  remunerate  their  services  by  a 
pension,  if  he  chose  to  grant  it,  had  as  good  a  right 
to  it  as  he — the  C[hancellor] — had  to  his  estate ;  and 
of  that  there  can  be  no  doubt. 

"  I  observe  Bankes  has  given  notice  to  revive  his 
Committee  [on  Public  Expenditure].  I  have  seen 
him,  and  he  seems  to  justify  his  resolution;  but  surely 
Martin  and  you,  as  lawyers,  will  not  mix  yourselves 
as  the  author  of  the  first  ex  post  facto  law,  touching 
the  rights  of  subjects,  that  has  ever  passed.  ...  I 
really  think  that  some  step  should  be  taken  by  those 
who,  as  the  friends  of  reform,  ought  to  take  care  that 
it  does  not  become  odious. 

"  Bankes  says  the  act  is  Perceval's,  but  I  have  good 
authority  for  believing  that  Perceval  would  not 
justify  the  ex  post  facto  clause. 

"  Yours  very  sincerely, 

"  Erskine." 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Mrs.  Creevey  \at  Brighton']. 

"Great  George  St.,  19th  January,  181 1. 

"  (For  God's  sake  be  secret  about  this  letter.) 

"  My  hopes  of  seeing  you  to-morrow  are  at  an  end, 
owing  to  a  most  ridiculous  resolution  of  our  party  to 
have  another  division  on  Monday,  in  which  of  course 
we  shall  disclose  still  greater  weakness  than  in  our 
last  division.  I  had  actually  paired  off  with  John 
Villiers  for  the  week,  but  I  am  sure  you  will  think  I 
am  right  in  staying  over  Monday,  when  I  tell  you  that 
McMahon  told  me  he  was  sure  the  Prince  would  be 
hurt  if  I  was  not  there,  and  when  you  read  the  enclosed 


iSii.]  CABINET   MAKING.  137 

note  from  Sheridan.  Nevertheless  I  give  the  Prince 
credit  for  not  originating  this  business,  but  that  it 
has  been  conveyed  to  him  by  Tierney  or  some  such 
artist.  I  mean  to  be  down  to  play  a  week  or  ten 
days  on  Tuesday.  Wm.  and  C  had  a  very  comfort- 
able dinner  again  yesterday  upon  my  mutton  chops 
at  this  house,  and  then  went  to  the  House,  and  just 
as  we  had  returned  home  again  at  ten  o'clock,  and  I 
was  beginning  to  dress  myself  to  go  to  Mrs.  Taylor's, 
Whitbread  came  and  desired  to  have  some  conversa- 
tion with  me.  .  .  .  Sam's  visit  was  to  take  my  advice. 
He  said  things  had  now  come  to  such  a  state  of 
maturity  that  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  decide  (but 
here  he  has  just  been  again,  and  I  am  afraid  I  shall 
not  have  time  to  tell). 

"  Well — office  was  offered  him ;  anything  he  pleased, 
but  had  he  any  objection  to  holding  it  under  Grenville 
as  First  Lord,  if  he  [Grenville]  held  as  before  the  hvo 
offices  of  First  Lord  and  Auditor,  ivith  the  salaries  of  both  ? 
iknow  not  with  what  disposition  he  came  to  me;  he 
stated  both  sides  of  the  question,  but  said  his  decision 
must  be  quick.  I  had  a  difficult  responsibility  to  take 
upon  myself,  but  I  set  before  him  as  strongly  as  I 
could  the  unpopularity  of  the  Grenvilles — the  certainty 
oi  i\ns  [illegiblc~]  place  being  again  and  again  exposed 
—the  impossibility  of  his  defending  it  after  having 
himself  driven  Yorke  from  receiving  the  income  of 
his  tellership  whilst  he  is  at  the  Admiralty,  and  Per- 
ceval from  receiving  the  income  of  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer  whilst  he  is  First  Lord  and  Chancellor 
of  the  Dutchy — that  his  consistency  and  character 
were  everything  to  him,  and  that,  if  I  was  him,  I 
would  compell  Lord  Grenville  to  make  the  sacrifice  to 
publick  opinion,  and  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
Government. 

"  I  went  to  him  this  morning,  and  he  had  done  as 
1  advised  him.  He  had  told  Grey  his  determination 
and  he  has  just  been  here  to  shew  me  his  letter  to  him 
upon  the  subject— to  be  shewn  Lord  Grenville.  It  is 
perfect  in  eyery  respect,  and  will,  whenever  it  is 
known,  do  him  immortal  honor.  The  fact,  however, 
is,  my  lord  will  strike.  They  one  and  all  stick  to 
Whitbread ;    they  can't    carry   on    the    Government 


138  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.       [Ch.  VII. 

without  him.  There  is  no  anger — no  ill  will  in  any 
of  them ;  all  piano — all  upon  their  knees.  Is  not  this 
a  triumph?" 

[Enclosure  in  above,  from  Mr.  Sheridan. 

"  Friday  night,  Jany,  i8th. 

"My  dear  Creevey, 

"  It  is  determined  in  consequence  of  the 
earnest  Desire  of  higJi  authority  to  have  a  last  debate 
and  division  on  the  Regency  bill  on  Monday  next. 
Here  is  a  Conclave  mustering  all  Hands,  and  I  am 
requested  to  write  to  you  as  it  is  apprehended  you 
mean  to  leave  Town  to-morrow.  I  conjure  you  at  any 
rate  to  be  with  us  on  Monday. 

"  Yours  ever  faithfully, 

"  Bly.  Sheridan."] 

Mr.  Crecvcy  to  Mrs.  Creevey. 

"  Great  George  St.,  Saty.,  Feby.  and,  181 1. 
"  I  came  home  at  half-past  four  that  I  might  have 
time  to  write  to  you,  and  iWhishaw  came  instantly 
after  and  has  staid  with  me  till  five,  ...  I  went  to 
dine  at  Hutchinson's  and  after  all  he  never  came.  He 
was  kept  at  Carlton  House  till  twelve  at  night,  so 
Lord  Donoughmore  and  I  dined  together,  and  he  was, 
as  he  always  is,  very  pleasant.  At  Brooks's  I  found 
Sheridan  just  arrived  from  Carlton  House,  where  the 
conclave  has  just  broken  up,  and  the  Prince  had  decided 
against  the  pressing  advice  of  all  present  not  to  dis- 
miss the  Government.  Sheridan  was  just  sober,  and 
expressed  to  me  the  strongest  opinion  of  the  injurious 
tendency  of  this  resolution  to  the  Prince's  character. 
Lord  Hutchinson  said  the  same  thing  to  me  to-day, 
and  added  that  never  man  had  behaved  better  than 
Sheridan.  I  said  all  I  thought  to  both  Hutchinson  and 
Sheridan  in  vindication  of  Prinny,  but  I  presume  I 
am  wrong,  as  I  stand  single  in  this  opinion.  I  went, 
however,  to  Mrs.  Fitzherbert  at  twelve  to-day,  an 
appointment  I  made  with  her  yesterday  in  the  street, 
and  she  and  I  were  agreed  upon  this  subject.  The 
Prince  has  written  to  Perceval  a  letter  which  is  to  be 
sent  to-morrow,  stating  to  him  his  intention,  under 


i8ir.]  WHITBREAD'S   PROPOSALS.  139 

the  present  opinion  of  tlie  physicians  respecting  his 
father,  not  to  change  the  Government  at  present,  and 
at  the  same  time  expressing  the  regret  he  feels  at  being 
thus  compelled  to  continue  a  Government  not  possess- 
ing his  confidence,  and  his  determination  of  changing 
it  should  there  be  no  speedy  prospect  of  his  Majesty's 
recovery  after  a  certain  time. 

"Now  I  do  not  see,  under  all  the  monstrous  diffi- 
culties of  his  situation,  any^great  impropriety  of  his 
present  resolution,  particularly  as  he  means  to  have 
his  letter  made  publick. 

"  Mrs.  Fitz  is  evidently  delighted  at  the  length  and 
forgiving  and  confidential  nature  of  Prinny's  visits. 
She  goes  to-morrow  and  will  tell  you,  no  doubt,  how 
poor  Prinny  was  foolish  enough  to  listen  to  some  idle 
story  of  my  having  abused  his  letter  to  both  Houses, 
and  how  she  defended  me.  Poor  fellow,  one  should 
have  thought  he  had  more  important  concerns  to 
think  of  1  went  fron>  her  to  Whitbread,  and  he  again 
conjured  me  to  attach  myself  to  the  new  Government 
by  taking  some  situation,  and  went  over  many — the 
Admiralty  Board  again — Chairman  of  the  Ways  and 
Means,  &c.  I  was  very  guarded,  and  held  myself  very 
much  up,  and  said  I  would  take  nothing  for  which 
there  was  not  service  to  be  done — nothing  like  a 
sinecure,  which  I  considered  a  seat  at  the  Admiralty 
Board  to  be  ;  but  of  course  I  was  very  good-humoured. 
He  repeated  the  conversation  between  him  and  Lord 
Grey  about  me.  He  said  my  name  was  first  mentioned 
by  Miss  Whitbread,  and,  having  been  so.  Lord  Grey 
replied — 'Although  I  think  Creevey  has  acted  unjustly 
to  me,  and  tho'  in  the  session  before  last  he  gave  great 
offence  to  many  of  my  friends  by  something  like  a 
violation  of  confidence,  yet  on  his  own  account,  on  that 
of  Mrs.  Creevey  and  of  anybody  connected  with  them, 
I  had  always  intended,  without  you  mentioning  him, 
to  express  my  wishes  that  he  might  be  included  in  the 
Government'  Upon  which  Whitbread  stated  from  his 
own  recollection  of  my  speech  that  gave  offence,  his 
perfect  conviction  of  its  being  no  breach  of  confidence  ; 
and  so  the  thing  ended  with  their  united  sentiment  in 
favor  of  my  having  some  office. 

"  I  am  afifraid  you  will  be  hurt  at  not  seeing  any 
immediate  provision  for  me  in  this  new  Government, 


140  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  VII. 

should  it  take  place ;  but  I  beg  you  to  give  way  to 
no  such  sentiment.  .  .  .  They  are  upon  a  new  tack 
in  consulting  publick  opinion.  Lord  Grey  and  Lord 
Grenville  have  most  unequivocally  refused  to  accede 
to  a  proposal  of  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  which  was 
stated  to  be  nearest  to  his  heart,  viz.  to  reinstate  the 
Duke  of  York  as  Commander-in-chief  What  think 
you  of  this  in  Grey?  and  his  language  to  Whitbread 
is  they  must  no  longer  be  taunted  with  'unredeemed 
pledges.'  I  mention  these  things  to  shew  you  they 
are  on  their  good  behaviour,  and  that,  with  such  views, 
they  must  do  what  they  ought  by  me.  I  am  perfectly 
satisfied  with  the  state  of  things — this  is,  supposing  a 
Government  to  be  formed — and  perfectly  secure  of 
any  wishes  of  mine  being  accomplished." 

"21st  Jan.,  1811. 

"  I  am  very  much  gratified  to  find  you  approve  my 
counsel  to  Sam,  and  Sam  for  acting  upon  it.  Every 
succeeding  moment  convinces  me  of  the  necessity  there 
was  for  acting  so,  and  of  the  infinite  advantage  and 
superiority  it  will  give  him  over  all  his  colleagues  at 
starting. 

"  What  shall  you  say  to  me  when  I  tell  you  I  am 
not  to  vote  to-night  after  all?  Villiers  won't  release 
me  from  contract  of  pairing  off;  at  least  he  consented 
only  to  stay  upon  terms  that  I  could  not  listen  to,  such 
as — if  iny  being  in  the  division  might  be  of  any  itse  to  me 
in  the  new  an-angejnent,  that  then  he  would  certainly 
stay.  This,  as  you  may  suppose,  was  enough  to  make 
me  at  once  decline  any  further  discussion.  .  .  .  How- 
ever, it  is  universally  known  how  I  am  situated,  and 
McMahon  told  me  just  now  of  his  own  accord  that  the 
Prince  had  told  him  this  morning  *  that  Villiers  would 
not  release  Creevey  from  pairing  off  with  him ;  that 
it  was  very  good  of  Creevey  to  stay  after  this,  and  to 
show  himself  in  the  House,  as  he  knew  he  intended.' 
.  .  .  Here  has  been  Ward  *  just  now  to  beg  I  would 
come  and  dine  with  him  tcte-ci-tcte,  and  that  I  should 
have  my  dinner  at  six  precisely,  as  he  knew  I  liked 
that :  so  I  shall  go.  I  know  he  was  told  the  character 
I  pronounced  of  him  one  night  at  Mrs.  Taylor's  after 

*  Hon.  John  William  Ward,  created  Earl  Dudley  in  1827. 


i8ii.]  THE   PROSPECT   OF  OFFICE.  14I 

he  was  gone,  upon  which  occasion  I  neither  concealed 
his  merits  nor  his  frailties,  and  he  has  been  kinder  to 
me  than  ever  from  that  time.  ...  I  don't  know  a 
syllable  of  what  has  transpired  to-day  between  Prinny 
and  the  grandees,  but  I  must  not  omit  to  tell  you  that 
the  night  before  last  my  Lord  Lansdowne  *  for  the 
first  time  condescended  to  come  up  to  me  at  Brooks's, 
and  to  walk  me  backwards  and  forwards  for  at  least 
a  quarter  of  an  hour.  He  asked  me  how  I  thought 
we  should  get  on  in  the  House  of  Commons  (meaning 
the  new  Government),  whether  we  should  be  strong 
enough ;  to  which  I  replied  it  would  depend  upon  the 
conduct  of  the  Government — that  if  they  acted  right 
they  would  be  strong  enough,  and  that  so  doing  was 
not  only  the  best,  but  the  sole,  foundation  of  their 
strength,  and  my  lord  agreed  with  me  in  rather  an 
awkward  manner,  and  was  mighty  civil  and  laughed  at 
all  my  jokes,  and  so  vve  parted." 

"  Great  George  St.,  ist  Feby.,  181 1. 

"  I  was  very  much  provoked  at  being  detained  so 
long  on  the  road  yesterday  that  I  was  just  too  late  for 
the  lastBill,so  I  eat  mymutton  chops  and  drunk  a  bottle 
of  wine,  and  then  tea,  and  then  sallied  forth  to  Mrs. 
Taylor's  ;  but  alas,  she  was  dining  out,  so  on  I  went  to 
Brooks's,  where  I  found  Mr.  Ponsonby  and  others  ;  and 
then  came  Whitbread,  Sheridan,  and  Lord  Hutchinson, 
the  latter  of  whom  insisted  upon  my  coming  to  dine  with 
him  tctc-a-tcte  to-day,  as  he  had  so  much  to  say  to  me. 
He  had  been  dining  yesterday  with  the  Prince,  and 
was  to  be  with  him  again  this  morning.  You  may 
suppose  I  intend  accepting  his  invitation ;  for  to-day 
Whitbread  was  deeply  involved  in  private  conversa- 
tion with  these  gentry ;  but,  before  he  left  the  room, 
he  came  up  to  the  table  where  I  was,  and  said — 
*  Creevey,  call  upon  me  to-morrow  at  twelve  if  it  is 
not  inconvenient  to  you  ;'  and,  having  left  the  room, 
Ward,  who  was  there,  said — 'There!  Mr.  Under- 
Secretary,  you  are  to  be  tried  as  to  what  kind  of  a 
hand  you  write,  &c.,  &c.,  before  you  are  hired;'  and 
then  we  walked  home  together,  and  he  told  me  he  had 

*  Formerly  Lord  Henry  Petty. 


142  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  VII. 

been  offered  to  be  a  Paymaster  of  the  Forces,  and  that 
he  had  refused  it,  and  that  he  was  sure  this  notice  of 
Whitbread  was  to  offer  me  an  under-secretaryship  in 
his  office.  I  went  accordingly  to  Sam  this  mornmg, 
but  quite  armed,  I  am  certain,  against  all  disappoint- 
ment, and  with  all  the  air  of  an  independent  man.  He 
began  by  giving  me  his  opinion  that  the  Prince  would 
not  change  the  Government,  and  that  he  was  playing 
a  false,  hollow,  shabby  game.  He  said  the  Queen  had 
written  him  a  letter  evidently  dictated  by  Perceval, 
[illegible]  most  cursedly,  and  that  he  had  been  quite 
taken  in  by  it.  He  expressed  himself  strongly  of 
opinion  that  he  [the  Prince]  ought  instantly  to  change 
the  Government ;  that  after  all  that  had  passed  between 
him,  the  Prince  and  Lords  Grenville  and  Grey,  it  would 
be  a  breach  of  honour  not  to  overthrow  the  ministers 
instantly.  I  confess  I  was  more  penetrated,  upon  this 
part  of  the  conversation,  with  Sam's  anxiety  to  be  in 
office  than  I  was  with  the  weight  of  his  arguments 
against  the  Prince.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  due  to  him 
to  add  that  Sheridan  and  Lord  Plutchinson  insist 
openly  that  the  Prince,  in  justice  to  his  character,  is 
bound  to  make  this  change  ;  and  again,  there  certainly' 
is  nothing  to  make  the  Prince  expect  any  rapid  amend- 
ment of  the  King.  .  .  .  Well,  this  opinion  of  Whitbread 
being  advanced  and  maintained  by  him  as  aforesaid, 
he  proceeded  to  say  that,  in  the  event  of  the  change 
taking  place,  he  was  very  anxious  to  know  from  myself 
what  I  should  look  to — that  he  and  Lord  Grey  had 
talked  over  the  subject  together — that  the  latter  had 
spoken  of  me  very  handsomely,  and  said  that,  tho'  I 
had  in  the  session  before  last,  fired  into  the  old  Govern- 
ment in  a  manner  that  had  given  great  offence  to 
several  persons,  yet  that  he  was  very  desirous  I 
should  form  part  of  the  new  Government.  Whitbread 
added  his  own  opinion  that  it  was  of  great  importance 
I  should  be  in  the  Government,  and  then  added — 'The 
worst  of  it  is  there  are  so  few  places  suited  to  you 
that  are  consistent  with  a  seat  in  Parliament ;  but 
what  is  there  you  should  think  of  yourself?'  So  I 
replied  that  was  rather  a  hard  question  to  answer ; 
that  though  I  was  a  little  man  compared  to  him  in  the 
country,  yet  that  the  preservation  of  my  own  character 
and  consistency  was  the  first  object  with  me;  that  I 


iSii.]  CREEVEY'S    CONDITIONS.  143 

could  go  as  a  principal  into  no  office — that  was  out  of 
the  question — and  I  ivould  not  go  into  any  office  as  a 
subaltern,  where  the  character  of  the  principal  did  not 
furnish  a  sufficient  apology  for  my  serving  under  him  ; 
that  with  these  views  I  certainly  had  looked  to  going 
with  him  into  any  office  he  might  have  allotted  to  him. 
He  said  such  had  always  been  his  wish,  and  then  said 
— 'You  know  by  the  Act  of  Parliament  that  created 
the  third  Secretary  of  State,  viz.,  that  for  the  Colonies, 
neither  of  the  Under-Secretaries  of  State  can  sit  in 
Parliament,  and  that  was  what  I  meant  when  I  said 
there  were  so  few  places  consistent  with  a  seat  in 
Parliament'  He  said  Grey  and  he  had  taken  for 
granted  I  would  not  go  back  to  my  old  place,  or  a 
seat  at  that  board,  after  firing  as  I  had  done  into  the 
East  I.  Company  ;  to  which  1  replied  they  were  quite 
right,  and  I  added  that,  whenever  I  might  be  in  office 
or  out,  I  reserved  to  myself  the  right  of  the  free  exercise 
ot  my  opinion  upon  all  Indian  subjects.  He  then  said, 
with  some  humility,  would  I  take  a  seat  at  the  Admiralty 
Board  ;  that  Lord  Holland  would  be  there,  and  that  he, 
of  course,  would  have  every  disposition  to  consult  my 
feelings.  I  said  my  first  inclination  was  certainly 
against  it;  at  the  same  time,  I  begged  nothing  might 
be  done  to  prevent  Lord  Holland  making  an  off'er  of 
any  kind  to  me  ;  that  he  was  a  person  I  looked  up  to 
greatly  on  his  own  account,  as  well  as  his  uncle's ;  * 
that  in  all  my  licentiousness  in  Parliament  I  had  never 
profaned  his  uncle's  memory ;  it  had  been  exclusively 
directed  against  his  enemies ;  that  I  would  take  a 
thing  from  Lord  Holland  that  nothing  should  induce 
me  to  do  from  any  Grenvilles ;  at  the  same  time,  I 
was  giving  no  opinion  further  than  this,  that  I  begged 
Whitbread  not  to  prevent  Lord  Holland  from  making 
me  an  offer — let  it  be  what  it  may.  ..." 

How  little  real  union  there  was  among  the  various 
sections  of  the  Opposition,  and  how  greatly  the  Whigs 
dreaded  the  projects  dearest  to  the  Radicals,  are  well 
illustrated  in  the  following  letters. 

*  C.  J.  Fo.x. 


144  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.       [Ch.  VII. 

Henry  Brougham,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Crccvcy. 

"April,  1811. 

"Dear  C, 

"  The  enclosed  answer  to  a  mutinous  epistle 
which  I  fired  into  Holland  House  t'other  day  may 
amuse  Mrs.  C.  and  you.  Burn  it  when  you  have 
read  it. 

"  Yours  ever, 

"  H.  B." 

[Enclosure  from  Lord  Holland. 

"...  There  is  much  truth  in  your  complaints  of 
the  present  state  of  public  affairs.  But  how  is  the 
evil  to  be  corrected  ?  There  is  a  want  of  popular 
feelings  in  many  individuals  of  the  party.  Others 
are  exasperated  with  the  unjust  and  uncandid  treat- 
ment they  have  received,  and  are  every  day  receiv- 
ing, from  the  modern  Reformers.  Another  set  are 
violent  anti-Reformers,  and  alarmed  at  every  speech 
or  measure  that  has  the  least  tendency  towards 
reform.  There  is  but  one  measure  on  which  the 
party  are  unanimously  agreed,  and  no  one  man  in  the 
House  of  Commons  to  whom  they  look  up  with  that 
deference  and  respect  to  his  opinion  which  is  necessary 
to  have  concert  and  co-operation  in  a  party.  ...  It  is 
a  state  of  things,  however,  which  cannot  possibly  last. 
Before  next  meeting  of  Parliament,  the  Prince  must 
either  have  changed  his  Ministers,  or  he  must  lay  his 
account  with  systematic  opposition  to  his  government. 
Even  though  the  old  leaders  of  the  party*  should  be 
unwilling  to  break  with  him,  they  will  not  be  able  to 
prevent  their  friends  from  declaring  open  hostility 
against  his  government.  If  such  a  rupture  should 
take  place,  many  would  of  course  desert  the  party  ; 
but  those  who  remained,  agreeing  better  with  one 
another  in  their  opinions,  and  consisting  of  more 
independent  men,  would  in  fact  be  a  more  formidable 
opposition  than  the  present.  .  .  .  "] 

*  Lords  Grey  and  Grenville. 


iSii.]     THE  PRINCE'S  COOLNESS  TO  THE  WHIGS.     145 
Henry  Brougham ,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Wed. 

"...  I  wish  you  would  come  to  town  and  let  us 
have  a  few  mischievous  discussions.  ...  A  report 
is  very  prevalent  that  the  siege  of  Badajos  is  raised, 
previous  to  another  fight.  I  daresay  this  will  prove 
true.  .  .  .  /  <7m  «55mW  that  the  Ministers  have  private 
letters  from  Welln.,  preparing  them  for  a  retreat." 

As  time  went  on,  although  the  King's  malady 
became  confirmed,  so  also  seemed  the  Regent's 
inclination  to  maintain  his  father's  Cabinet.  The 
irritation  of  the  Whigs  increased  in  proportion  as 
their  hopes  sank  lower.  A  peep  down  the  Prime 
Minister's  area  seems  to  have  opened  Creevey's  eyes 
for  the  first  time  to  the  profligacy  of  the  Heir 
Apparent,  to  which  he  had  been  blind  enough  in  the 
rousing  old  days  at  the  Pavilion.  So  greatly  may 
judgment  vary  according  to  the  point  of  view  ! 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Mrs.  Creevey. 

"20th  July,  I  Sir. 

".  .  .  Prinny's  attachment  to  the  present  Ministers, 
his  supporting  their  Bank  Note  Bill,  and  his  dining 
with  them,  must  give  them  all  hopes  of  being  con- 
tinued, as  I  have  no  doubt  they  will.  .  .  .  The  folly 
and  villainy  of  this  Prinny  is  certainly  beyond  any- 
thing. I  was  forcibly  struck  with  this  as  I  passed 
Perceval's  *  kitchen  just  now,  and  saw  four  man  cooks 
and  twice  as  many  maids  preparing  dinner  for  the 
Prince  of  Wales  and  Regent — he  whose  wife  Perceval 
set  up  against  him  in  open  battle — who,  at  the  age  of 
50,  could  not  be  trusted  by  the  sd.  Perceval  with  the 

*  The  Right  Hon.  Spencer  Perceval,  became  Prime  Minister  on 
the  death  of  the  Duke  of  Portland  in  October,  1809,  and  was  assassi- 
nated by  Bcllingham  in  the  lobby  of  the  House  of  Commons,  iith 
May,  1812. 

L 


14^  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  VII. 

unrestrained  government  of  these  realms  during  his 
father's  incapacity — he  who,  on  his  last  birthday  at 
Brighton,  declared  to  his  numerous  guests  that  it  was 
his  glory  to  have  bred  up  his  daughter  in  the  principles 
of  Mr.  Fox — he  who,  in  this  very  year,  declared  by 
letter  to  the  said  Mr.  Perceval,  and  afterwards  had 
the  letter  published  as  an  apology  for  his  conduct, 
that  he  took  him  as  his  father's  Minister,  but  that  his 
own  heart  was  in  another  quarter — by  God !  this  is 
too  much.  We  shall  see  whether  he  does  dine  there 
or  not,  or  whether  he  will  send  word  at  5,  as  he  did 
to  poor  Kinnaird,  that  he  can't  come,  I  have  been 
walking  with  Kinnaird,  and  this  excuse  that  came  too 
late  from  Prinny,  the  Duke  of  York  and  the  Duke  of 
Clarence  has  evidently  made  a  deep  impression  upon 
his  lordship's  mind  against  the  Bank  Note  Bill,  and 
everything  else  in  which  the  Regent  takes  a  part." 

Journal. 

^^ July  i2tJi,  181 1. — .  .  .  We  are  prorogued  till  the 
22nd  of  next  month  ojily,  but  the  general  opinion  is 
the  King  will  die  before  that  day,  and  then  of  course 
Parliament  meets  again.  Publick  opinion,  or  rather 
the  opinion  of  Parliamentary  politicians,  is  that,  in 
the  event  of  the  King's  death,  Lords  Grenville  and 
Grey  will  be  passed  over  and  the  present  ministers 
continued,  with  the  addition  of  some  of  the  Prince's 
private  friends,  such  as  Lords  Moira  and  Hutchinson 
and  Yarmouth  and  old  Sheridan.  The  latter  is 
evidently  very  uneasy  at  the  present  state  of  things. 
Lie  sat  with  me  till  5  o'clock  on  Sunday  morning  at 
Brooks's — was  very  drunk — told  me  I  had  better 
get  into  the  same  boat  with  him  in  politicks — but  at 
the  same  time  abused  Yarmouth  so  unmercifully  that 
one  quite  perceived  he  thought  his  (Yarmouth's)  boat 
was  the  best  of  the  tv/o.  Apparently  nothing  can  be 
so  base  as  the  part  the  Prince  is  acting,  or  so  likely 
to  ruin  him.  .  .  . 

^^  Brighton,  Oct  "^oth. — The  Prince  Regent  came 
here  last  night  with  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  and 
Lord  Yarmouth.  Everybody  has  been  writing  their 
names  at  the  Pavilion  this  morning,  but  I  don't  hear 


k.  i',ki.\sLi-;v  siii:kii)AN. 


[To  face  p.  146. 


l8ii.]  JOURNAL.  147 

of  anybody  dining  there  to-day,  ...  I  presume  we 
sliall  be  asked  there,  altho'  I  went  to  town  on  purpose 
to  vote  against  his  appointment  of  his  brother  the 
Duke  of  York  to  the  Commandership-in-Chief  of  the 
Army. 

Oct.  $jsf. — We  have  got  an  invitation  from  the 
Regent  for  to-night  and  are  going.  I  learn  from  Sir 
Philip  Francis,  who  dined  there  yesterda}^  the  Prince 
was  very  gay.  .  .  .  There  were  twenty  at  dinner — no 
politicks — but  still  Francis  says  he  thinks,  from  the 
language  of  the  equerries  and  understrappers,  that 
the  campaign  in  Portugal  and  Lord  Wellington  begin 
to  be  out  of  fashion  with  the  Regent.  I  think  so  too, 
from  a  conversation  I  had  with  one  of  the  Gyps  to-day 
— Congreve,  author  of  the  rockdts,  and  who  is  going, 
they  say,  to  have  a  Rockett  Corps.*  He  affects  to 
sneer  rather  at  Wellington's  military  talents.  The 
said  Congreve  was  at  the  same  school  with  me  at 
Hackney,  and  afterwards  at  Cambridge  with  me ; 
after  that,  a  brother  lawyer  with  me  at  Gray's  Inn. 
Then  he  became  an  editor  of  a  newspaper  .  .  .  written 
in  favour  of  Lord  Sidmouth's  administration,  till  he 
had  a  libel  in  his  paper  against  Admiral  Berkeley,  for 
which  he  was  prosecuted  and  fined  ;^iooo.  Then  he 
took  to  inventing  rocketts  for  the  more  effectual 
destruction  of  mankind,  for  which  he  became  pat- 
ronised by  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  here  he  is — a 
perfect  Field  Marshall  in  appearance.  About  12 
years  ago  he  wrote  to  me  to  enquire  the  character 
of  a  mistress  who  had  lived  with  me  some  time 
before,  which  said  mistress  he  took  upon  my  recom- 
mendation, and  she  lives  with  him  now,  and  was, 
when  I  knew  her,  cleverer  than  all  the  equerries  and 
their  Master  put  together. 

^^  Nov.  ist. — We  were  at  the  Pavilion  last  night — 
Mrs.  Creevey's  three  daughters  and  myself— and  had 
a  very  pleasant  evening.  We  found  tiiere  Lord  and 
Lady   Charlemont,    Marchioness    of   Downshire    and 

*  Afterwards  Sir  William  Congreve,  Bart.,  M.P.,  F.R.S.  Wel- 
lington disapproved  of  Congrcve's  invention  when  it  was  first  brought 
to  his  notice.  "  I  don't  want  to  set  fire  to  any  town,  and  I  don't 
know  any  other  use  of  rockets."  But  he  changed  his  opinion  after 
witnessing  their  effect  in  action  at  the  passage  of  the  Adour  in  1814. 


14S  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  VII. 

old  Lady  Sefton,  About  half-past  nine,  which  might 
be  a  quarter  of  an  hour  after  we  arrived,  the  Prince 
came  out  of  the  dining-room.  He  was  in  his  best 
humour,  bowed  and  spoke  to  all  of  us,  and  looked 
uncommonly  well,  tho'  very  fat.  He  was  in  his  full 
Field  Marshal's  uniform.  He  remained  quite  as 
cheerful  and  full  of  fun  to  the  last — half-past  twelve — 
asked  after  Mrs.  Creevey's  health,  and  nodded  and 
spoke  when  he  passed  us.  The  Duke  of  Cumberland 
was  in  the  regimentals  of  his  own  Hussars,*  looked 
really  hideous,  everybody  trying  to  be  rude  to  him — 
not  standing  when  he  came  near  them.  The  officers 
of  the  Prince's  regiment  had  all  dined  with  him,  and 
looked  very  ornamental  monkeys  in  their  red  breeches 
with  gold  fringe  and  yellow  boots.  The  Prince's 
band  played  as  usual  all  the  time  in  the  dining-room 
till  12,  when  the  pages  and  footmen  brought  about 
iced  champagne  punch,  lemonade  and  sandwiches.  I 
found  more  distinctly  than  before,  from  conversation 
with  the  Gyps,  that  Wellington  and  Portugal  are 
going  down. 

"  The  Prince  looked  much  happier  and  more  un- 
embarrassed by  care  than  I  have  seen  him  since  this 
time  six  years.  This  time  five  years  ago,  when  he 
was  first  in  love  with  Lady  Hertford,  I  have  seen  the 
tears  run  down  his  cheeks  at  dinner,  and  he  has  been 
dumb  for  hours,  but  now  that  he  has  the  weight  of 
the  empire  upon  him,  he  is  quite  alive.  ...  I  had  a 
very  good  conversation  with  Lord  Charlemont  about 
Ireland,  and  liked  him  much.  He  thinks  the  Prince 
has  already  nearly  ruined  himself  in  Irish  estimation 
by  his  conduct  to  the  Catholics. 

"Nov.  2nd. — We  were  again  at  the  Pavilion  last 
night.  .  .  .  The  Regent  sat  in  the  Musick  Room 
almost  all  the  time  between  Viotti,  the  famous  violin 
player,  and  Lady  Jane  Houston,  and  he  went  on  for 
hours  beating  his  thighs  the  proper  time  for  the  band, 
and  singing  out  aloud,  and  looking  about  for  accom- 
paniment from  Viotti  and  Lady  Jane.  It  was  curious 
sight  to  see  a  Regent  thus  employed,  but  he  seemed 

*  This  was  a  German  volunteer  regiment,  which  disgraced  itself 
at  Waterloo  by  deserting  the  field  at  the  very  crisis  of  the  French 
cavalry  attack 


iSir.J  JOURNAL.  149 

in  high  good  humour.  .  ,  .  There  is  nothing  like  a 
Minister  about  him,  nor  yet  any  of  his  old  political 
friends  or  advisers — no  Sheridan,  Moira  or  Hutchin- 
son. Yarmouth  and  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  are 
always  on  the  spot,  and  no  doubt  are  his  real 
advisers  ;  but  in  publick  they  are  mute,  and  there  is 
no  intercourse  between  the  Regent  and  them.  Sir 
Philip  Francis  is  the  only  one  of  his  old  set  here,  but 
he  is  not  here  on  the  Prince's  invitation,  nor  in  his 
suite,  and  is  evidently  slighted.  Tom  Stepney  and  I 
last  night  calculated  that  Francis  and  Lord  Keith 
made  out  150  years  of  age  between  them,  and  yet 
they  are  both  here  upon  their  preferment  with  the 
Regent — the  first,  one  of  the  cleverest  men  one 
knows,  and  the  other,  one  of  the  richest.  What  a 
capital  libel  on  mankind  !  Francis  said  to  me  to-day  : 
— 'Well,  I  am  invited  to  dinner  to-day,  and  that  is 
perhaps  all  I  shall  get  after  two  and  twenty  years' 
service.'  What  infernal  folly  for  such  a  person  to 
have  put  himself  in  the  way  of  making  so  humiliating 
a  confession. 

"  Nov.  ^rd. — .  .  .  I  have  heard  of  no  one  observa- 
tion the  Regent  has  made  yet  out  of  the  commonest 
slip-slop,  till  to-day  Baron  Montalembert  told  me  this 
morning  that,  when  he  dined  there  on  Friday  with 
the  staff  of  this  district,  the  Prince  said  he  had  been 
looking  over  the  returns  o  '  the  Army  in  Portugal 
that  morning,  and  that  the.  3  were  of  British  16,500 
sick  in  Hospitals  in  Lisbon,  and  4,500  sick  in  the  field 
— in  all,  21,000.  It  might  be  indiscreet  in  the  Prince 
to  make  this  statement  from  official  papers,  but  he 
must  have  been  struck  with  it,  and  I  hope  rightly,  so 
as  to  make  him  think  of  peace.  .  .  . 

"Nov.  5///. — We  were  at  the  Prince's  both  last 
night  and  the  night  before  (Sunday).  .  .  .  The  Regent 
was  again  all  night  in  the  Musick  Room,  and  not 
content  with  presiding  over  the  Band,  but  actually 
singing,  and  very  loud  too.  Last  night  we  were 
reduced  to  a  smaller  party  than  ever,  and  Mrs. 
Creevey  was  well  enough  to  go  with  me  and  her 
daughters  for  the  first  time.  Nothing  could  be  kinder 
than  the  Prince's  manner  to  her.  When  he  first  saw 
her  upon  coming  into  the  drawing-room,  he  went  up 
and  took  hold  of  both  her  hands,  shook  them  heartily. 


150  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Cn.  VII. 

made  her  sit  down  directly,  asked  her  all  about  her 
health,  and  expressed  his  pleasure  at  seeing  her  look 
so  much  better  than  he  expected.  Upon  her  saying 
she  was  glad  to  see  him  looking  so  well,  he  said 
gravely  he  was  getting  old  and  blind.  When  she 
said  she  was  glad  on  account  of  his  health  that  he 
kept  his  rooms  cooler  than  he  used  to  do,  he  said  he 
was  quite  altered  in  that  respect — that  he  used  to 
be  always  chilly,  and  was  now  never  so — that  he 
never  had  a  fire  even  in  his  bedroom,  and  slept  with 
one  blanket  and  sheet  only.  .  .  . 

"Nov.  6th. — We  were  again  at  the  Pavilion  last 
night  .  .  .  the  party  being  still  smaller  than  ever, 
and  the  Prince,  according  to  his  custom,  being 
entirely  occupied  with  his  musick. 

"Nov.  gth. — Yesterday  was  the  last  day  of  the 
Prince's  stay  at  this  place,  and,  contrary  to  my  ex- 
pectation, I  was  invited  to  dinner.  We  did  not  sit 
down  till  half-past  seven,  tho'  I  went  a  little  past  six. 
The  only  person  I  found  was  Tom  Stepney :  then 
came  Generals  Whetham,  Hammond  and  Cartwright, 
Lords  Charlemont,  Yarmouth  and  Ossulston,  Sir 
Philip  Francis,  Congreve,  Bloomfield  and  others  of 
the  understrappers,  and  finally  the  Regent  and  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland.  We  were  about  sixteen 
altogether.  The  Prince  was  very  merry  and  seemed 
very  well.  He  began  to  me  with  saying  very  loud 
that  he  had  sent  for  Mrs.  Creevey's  physic  to  London. 
.  .  .  At  dinner  I  sat  opposite  to  him,  next  to 
Ossulston,  and  we  were  the  only  persons  there  at  all 
marked  by  opposition  to  his  appointment  of  his 
brother  the  Duke  of  York,  or  to  the  Government 
generally,  since  he  has  been  Regent.  He  began  an 
old  joke  at  dinner  with  me  about  poor  Fonblanque, 
with  whom  I  had  dined  six  years  ago  at  the  Pavilion, 
.  .  .  [when]  the  Prince  and  we  all  got  drunk,  and  he 
was  always  used  to  say  it  was  the  merriest  day  he 
ever  spent.    However,  it  was  soon  dropped  yesterday. 

"The  Duke  of  Cumberland  and  Yarmouth  never 
spoke.  The  Prince  was  describing  a  pleasant  dinner 
he  had  had  in  London  lately,  and  was  going  over  each 
man's  name  as  he  sat  in  his  order  at  the  table,  and 
giving  to  each  his  due  in  the  pleasantry  of  the  day. 
Coming  to  Col.   [Sir  Willoughby]  Gordon   he  said : 


iSii.]  THE    CANNINGITES   SCATTERED.  151 

'To  be  sure,  there's  not  much  humour  in  him  !'  upon 
which  Ossulston  and  I  gave  both  a  kind  of  involuntary 
laugh,  thinking  the  said  Gordon  a  perfect  impostor, 
from  our  recollection  of  his  pompous,  impudent 
evidence  before  the  House  of  Commons  in  the  Duke 
of  York's  case  ;  but  this  chuckling  of  ours  brought 
from  the  Prince  a  very  elaborate  panegyric  upon 
Gordon  which  was  meant,  most  evidently,  as  a 
reproof  to  Ossulston  and  myself  for  quizzing  him. 

"We  did  not  drink  a  great  deal,  and  were  in  the 
drawing-room  by  half-past  nine  or  a  little  after ;  no 
more  state,  I  think,  than  formerly — ten  men  out  of 
livery  of  one  kind  or  other,  and  four  or  five  footmen. 
At  night  everybody  was  there  and  the  whole  closed 
about  one,  and  so  ended  the  Regent's  visit  to 
Brighton." 

And  so,  it  may  be  added,  ended  Creevey's  intimacy 
with  the  Regent.  Henceforward  he  acted  in  constant 
opposition  to  his  future  monarch's  schemes. 


Lady  Holland  to  Mrs.  Crecvey. 

[i8rr?]. 

"...  I  suppose  you  have  heard  that  Mr.  Canning 
has  entirely  disbanded  his  little  Troop.  He  dis- 
missed them,  desiring  they  would  no  longer  consider 
him  as  the  leader  of  any  Party  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  Various  reasons  are  assigned  for  it. 
C.  Ellis  says  that  a  gentleman  whom  he  did  not 
name,  but  who  is  supposed  to  be  W[;illegible\  sus- 
pected an  immediate  negociation  with  Ministers, 
and  implied  that  he  was  the  mouthpiece  of  the  party; 
upon  which  Canning,  in  a  moment  of  pettishness, 
set  them  all  adrift.  There  are  various  conjectures, 
but  the  only  fact  is  that  they  are  released  from 
their  allegiance.  Ward  says  it  is  hard  to  serve 
a  year  without  wages,  but  he  hopes  to  get  a  good 
character  from  his  last  place.  The  story  is  that 
Huskisson  has  been  off  some  time  and  is  coming  in. 
.  .  .  All  Canning's  friends  are  very  sore  at  this  last 
move;  but  more  because  the  chief  sensation  it  excites 


153  THE    CREEVEY   TAPERS.  [Cn.  VII. 

is  laughter,  and  tho'  jokers  themselves,  they  cannot 
endure  any  ridicule  against  their  own  lot.  .  .  .  The 
Regent  went  to  the  Dandy  ball  last  night,  and  only 
spoke  to  M.  Pierrepont,  one  of  the  four  who  invited. 
He  fairly  turned  his  back  upon  the  others.  He  sent 
a  message  to  Sr.  Harry  Mildmay,  saying  he  wished  to 
speak  to  him  ;  who  replied  that  it  must  be  a  mistake, 
because  His  R.  H.  had  seen  him  and  took  no  notice 
whatever  of  him.  .  .  ." 


^6 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

1812. 

The  Marquess  Weliesley,  who  had  joined  Perceval's 
Cabinet  in  1809  on  the  resignation  of  Castlereagh  and 
Canning,  himself  resigned  in  February,  1812,  partly 
owing  to  dissatisfaction  at  the  manner  in  which 
the  Government  supported  the  Peninsular  war,  but 
chiefly  because  of  the  Regent's  persistence  in  refus- 
ing to  listen  to  any  proposals  of  Roman  Catholic 
relief.  The  King's  recovery  being  now  considered 
out  of  the  question,  it  was  fully  expected  that  the 
Regent  would  avail  himself  of  the  occasion  of  a 
reconstruction  of  the  Cabinet  to  put  his  own  political 
friends  in  power.  However,  instead  of  dismissing 
Perceval,  he  invited  Grey  and  Grenville  to  join  his 
administration,  which  they  refused  to  do  so  long  as 
Catholic  Emancipation  was  a  forbidden  subject.  The 
Regent  bitterly  resented  their  conduct,  and  continued 
Perceval  in  office,  until  that  Minister  was  assassinated 
in  the  lobby  of  the  House  of  Commons  on  i  ith  May. 
Meanwhile,  another  and  a  striking  personality  had 
appeared  in  Parliament,  Henry  Brougham,  to  wit. 
Elected  for  Camelford  for  the  first  time  in  18 10,  he 
had  registered  a  vow  not  to  open  his  mouth  in  the 
House  for  the  first  month  ;  whicli  vow  he  kept, 
indemnifying  himself  for  his  self-control   by  incessant 


154  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  VIII. 

oratory  ever  after.  George  Ponsonby  was  still 
leaderof  the  Whigs  in  the  Commons;  but  Brougham's 
energy  and  eloquence  were  so  striking  that  he  had 
not  been  four  months  a  member  before  he  was 
reckoned  as  one  of  the  most  formidable  of  the  many 
candidates  for  the  first  place.  His  letters  to  Creevey 
during  the  early  months  of  1812  are  very  numerous ; 
but  it  is  difficult  to  fix  the  exact  stage  of  proceedings 
to  which  they  refer,  owing  to  his  omission  to  date 
them  except  by  the  day  of  the  week. 

Henry  Brougham,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Saturday,  6  o'clock  [May?  1812]. 

"  The  intriguing  is  going  on  briskly.  Wellesley 
has  seen  P.,*  and  then  Wy.  saw  Grey.  Grey  says  all  is 
afloat  and  nothing  settled,  but  that  all  will  be  settled 
before  Monday.  This  shows  a  nibble  at  least,  and  1 
lament  it  much.  To  be  in  the  same  boat  with  W.  and 
Canning  is  pretty  severe.  I  see  no  chance  of  their 
making  such  a  thing  as  one  cmi  support ;  indeed  I  feel 
in  opposition  to  them  already,  should  they  agree 
about  it.  .  .  .  Holland  and  Wellesley  are  at  the 
bottom  of  it  all,  and  have  been  together  to-day,  and 
at  York  House.  The  Spanish  madness  and  love  of 
office  of  Lady  H[olland]  is  enough  to  do  all  the 
mischief  we  dread.  Anything  without  the  country  is 
real  madness  or  drivling. 

"  In  the  Comee.  on  Orders  in  C[ouncil]  we  sat  this 
morning  till  four,  and  I  have  been  all  day  at  a  Sherift''s 
Jury  on  damages,  so  am  knocked  up  and  can  add 
no  more. 

"  H.  B." 

*'  PI.  of  Corns,  [in  pencil]  Friday,  22nd  May,  1812. 

"They   are   all   out.      The   answer   of   Prinny   is 

short — that  he   is   to   comply   immediately   with  the 

address  to  try  to  form  a  Govt.     I  had  no  hand  in  this 

bad  work.     I  would  not  vote.     It  is  the  old  blunder 

*  The  Prince  Reerent. 


i§i2.]  PARLIAMENT   IS   DISSOLVED.  155 

of  1804 — acting  at  Canning's  benefit.     The  old  rotten 
Ministry  was  to  my  mind." 

Mr.  Creevey  had  a  safe  seat  at  Thetford,  one  of 
the  Duke  of  Norfolk's  boroughs,  but  his  ambition  was 
fired  by  an  invitation  to  contest  one  of  the  seats  for 
his  native  Liverpool.  Brougham,  at  the  same  time, 
having  received  notice  to  quit  from  a  new  proprietor 
of  Camelford,  determined  to  stand  for  the  other 
Liverpool  seat ;  and,  on  the  dissolution  taking  place, 
these  two  gentlemen  went  down  to  fight  Mr.  Canning 
and  General  Gascoigne. 

Henry  Brougham  to  Mr.  Crccvey. 

"  Brougham,  Friday,  [May]  1S12. 

"On  my  return  from  a  visit  to  the  Jockey*  I 
received  yours.  While  there,  I  passed  my  time  as 
you  might  suppose — drinking  in  the  evening,  and  in 
the  morning  going  thro'  tetc-a-tetc  with  him  the  red 
book  and  other  lists  of  baro's.  It  was  quite  a  comedy. 
I  believe  I  can  almost  come  up  to  the  never-to-be- 
forgotten  or  surpassed  night  enjoyed  by  Ld.  S[efton] 
and  yourself  with  that  venerable  feudal  character. 
We  had  women — and  speeches — in  the  first  style  :  the 
subjects  infinitely  various,  from  bawd}^  to  the  depths 
of  politics,  and  this  morning  at  breakfast  he  was 
pleased  to  enter  largely  on  the  subject  of  the  Daiety 
and  his  forey('nowledge ;  settling  that  question  as 
satisfactorily  as  if  it  had  been  one  \ov,c\m\^thc  Gairtcr, 
which  he  likewise  discussed  at  length.  1  assure  you 
I  have  had  two  choice  days,  and  there  wanted  only 
some  one  Xianlike  person  to  enjoy  it  with,  and  the 
presence  also  of  a  few  comforts — such  as  a  necessary, 
towels,  water,  <S:c.,  &:c.,  to  make  the  thing  compleat. 
He  goes  up  to-morrow  to  Airnndcl,  and  he  is  coming 
here  on  his  way  (to  talk  about  the  dissolution),  which 
will  give  me  a  more  quiet  slice  of  his  humours ;  for 
there  was  rather  a  crowd  of  parasites.  ..." 

•  The  nth  Duke  of  Norfolk. 


156  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Cii.  Vlll. 

There  follows  here  a  long  discussion  of  the  ques- 
tion whether  Creevey  and  Brougham — either  of  them, 
both,  or  neither — should  stand  for  Liverpool.  Creevey 
is  comfortably  settled  in  Thetford ;  Brougham  is 
inclined  to  stand  without  him,  lest  he  should  "  turn 
out  poor  Tarlton,"  who  is  as  good  an  opponent  of  the 
Tory  Government  as  if  he  had  been  an  out-and-out 
Radical.  As  to  finding  himself  returned  as  Canning's 
colleague — "only  fancy  the  folly  of  being  coupled 
with  Canning  !  ...  it  would  be  laughable  to  join  us 
together."     Then  he  continues — 

".  .  .  As  to  being  out  of  Parlt. — don't  laugh  at 
me  if  I  say  I  really  should  submit  to  such  a  fate  with 
composure,  indeed  with  cheerfulness.  I  am  fond  of 
my  profession,  which  you'll  say  a  queer  taste ;  but  I 
really  so  delight  in  it  more  and  more  every  day.  1 
see  also  how  greatly  I  might  rise  in  it  by  this  means, 
and  how  infallibly  I  should  command  anything  par- 
liamentary that  I  might  chuse,  after  a  few  years.  This 
is  clear,  and  I  might  be  as  much  of  a  demagogue  as  I 
thought  fit  to  be — I  mean,  in  a  good  sense — and  these 
times  require  looking  outside  of  Parlt.,  in  my  opinion, 
as  much  as  any  v/e  have  lived  in." 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Mrs.  Ci'eevey. 

"  House  of  Commons,  (May)  25th,  1812. 
"  Oh  dear !  I  have  been  waiting  for  Whitbread's 
latest  intelligence,  till  I  have  little  time  left.  First 
then,  when  Prinney  sent  for  Wellesley,  the  latter 
began  by  mentioning  some  of  the  Opposition  as 
persons  to  be  consulted  with;  to  which  the  former 
replied — '  Don't  mention  any  names  to  me  now,  my 
lord,  but  make  an  Administration  for  me.'  To  which 
the  other  says — '  In  a  business  of  such  nicety  I  trust 
your  Royal  Highness  will  not  press  me  for  time.' 
— 'Take  your  own  time,'  says  Prinney,  *  tho'  there  is 
not  a  shilling  left  in  the  Exchequer.'  Well,  off  sets 
Welleslc}',  calling  at  the  doors  of  the  Opposition — 


iSi2.]  WHO    SHALL   BE    PREMIER?  157 

Grey,  Grenville,  Holland  and  Moira;  and  yesterday 
some  minutes  of  their  conversations  were  made  that 
had  taken  place  between  Wellesley,  Grey  and  Gren- 
ville  about  the  Catholic  question  and  the  war  in  Spain. 
There  is  some  vague  kind  of  coincidence  of  sentiments 
expressed  between  them  on  these  subjects — no  other 
subject  mentioned.  With  this  first  fruit  of  his  ex- 
pedition Wellesley  went  to  Carlton  House  last  night 
at  seven,  and  just  as  he  was  beginning  to  dilate  upon 
his  success,  Prinney  told  him  he  was  busy,  and  that 
he  must  call  again  to-day.  .  .  .  This  I  know  to  be 
quite  true ;  it  comes  from  Grey  through  Whitbread 
to  me. 

"This  is  the  whole  effect  of  the  defeat  of  the  old 
Government,  and  in  the  meantime  the  said  old  Govern- 
ment have  one  and  all  contracted  with  each  other  in 
writing  never  to  act  with  such  a  villain  as  Wellesley 
again ;  in  which  they  are  quite  right,  but  what  think 
you  of  such  a  patron  for  our  friends  ?  Well  :  we  had 
Whitbread  and  Lady  Elizabeth  at  Holland  House 
yesterday,  Milton,  Althorp,  Lord  John  Russell, 
Sheridan,  Lord  Ossory,  Fitzpatrick,  Horner,  Bennett 
and  many  more,  and  we  had  a  very  merry  day, 
occasioned  by  my  jokes  about  our  new  patron  the 
Marquis  [Wellesley].  Poor  Holland  was  quite  inimit- 
able, but  I  will  tell  you  more  about  it  to-morrow. 
They  will  be  all  ruined  :  they  have  flung  Whitbread 
overboard :  he  has  just  told  me  so  himself,  and  that 
Lord  Grey  had  just  told  him  so  in  the  coolest  manner. 
Not  a  word  of  this  !  but  it  is  death  to  them.  He  told 
me  yesterday  his  fixed  determination  to  have  nothing 
to  do  with  Wellesley  and  Canning,  and  they  have 
anticipated  him.  .  .  ." 

"  House  of  Commons,  Tuesday,  26th. 

".  .  .  Well  :  nothing  is  known  to-day  except  that 
Prinney  saw  both  Eldon  and  Liverpool  yesterday  for 
a  long  time  before  he  saw  Wellesley,  and  that  a 
Cabinet  Council  of  the  old  Ministers  was  summoned 
to  Liverpool's  office  last  night,  and  sat  for  a  long  time. 
.  .  .  Well,  the  jaw  is  over.  Castlereagh  says  the  old 
Government  is  still  out,  and  he  knows  nothing  of  any 
new  one.  It  is  true  that  Prinney  told  Wellesley  that 
Grey  and  Grenville  were  a  couple  of  scoundrels,  and 


158  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  VIII. 

that  Moira  was  a  fellow  no  honest  man  could  speak 
to.  Wellesley  then  told  him  the  danger  he  was 
exposed  to,  both  himself,  his  throne  and  his  country, 
washed  his  hands  of  him  and  his  concerns,  and  is 
actually  gone  out  of  town.  Ferguson  told  me  he 
kneii)  all  this,  and  of  course  Moira  is  his  authority. 
Canning  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  old  Govern- 
ment, and  has  just  renewed  his  motion  about  the 
Catholic  question.  Prinney  must  be  stark  staring 
mad,  by  God  !  .  .  .  The  projected  exclusion  of  Whit- 
bread  from  the  new  Cabinet  is  spreading  like  wildfire 
against  Grey  and  Grenville." 

"  Brooks's,  27th. 

"  Well,  after  all  that  passed  between  Prinney  and 
Wellesley  on  Monday  night,  after  all  the  foul  language 
about  Moira,  &c.,  late  last  night  Prinney  sent  for 
Moira  and  flung  himself  upon  his  mercy.  Such  a 
scene  I  never  heard  of;  the  young  monarch  cried  loud 
and  long ;  in  short  he  seems  to  have  been  very  nearly 
in  convulsions.  The  afQicting  interview  was  entirely 
occupied  with  lamentations  over  past  errors,  and 
delight  at  brighter  prospects  for  the  future  under  the 
happier  auspices  of  his  old  and  true  friend  now 
restored.  Moira  told  him  generally  the  terrible  state 
of  the  countr}^  which  the  other  said  had  been  con- 
cealed from  him  by  his  Ministers,  and  that  he  had 
not  seen  a  paper  these  three  or  four  weeks.  Moira 
suggested  to  him  that  perhaps  he  would  wish  to  be 
more  composed  before  they  went  further  into  detail, 
and  this  was  agreed  to,  so  he  has  been  there  again 
to-day  for  three  hours.  I  saw  him  come  away  at  a 
little  before  four,  and  Lord  Dundas  called  with  me  at 
his  door  and  found  he  had  gone  off  to  Lord  Wellesley's, 
where  Grenville  and  Grey  now  are  hearing  the  sub- 
stance of  this  long  interview  of  Moira  with  his  Master. 
.  .  .  My  jokes  about  Wellesley  are  in  great  request. 
Lady  Holland  said  to  me  on  Sunday  in  the  drawing- 
room  after  dinner — '  Come  here  and  sit  by  me,  you 
mischicvoits  toad,  and  promise  that  you  won't  begin 
upon  the  new  Government  with  your  jokes.  When 
you  do,  begin  with  those  Grenvilles.'  1  dined  at  old 
Tankerville's  yesterday,  who  said — '  Creevey,  never 


iSi2.]  PROLONGED   SUSPENSE.  159 

desert  Wellesley !  give  it  him  well,  I  beg  of  you.' 
Sefton  asked  me  to  dine  there  to-day,  evidently  with 
the  same  view.  Sheridan  is  more  base  in  his  resent- 
ment against  Whitbread  than  you  can  imagine,  and 
all  from  Drury  Lane  disappointment." 

"House  of  Commons,  28th. 

".  .  .  Just  after  I  finished  my  letter  yesterday,  I  met 
Sheridan  coming  from  a  long  interview  with  the  Prince, 
and  going  with  a  message  to  Wellesley ;  so  of  course  I 
walked  with  him  and  got  from  him  all  I  could.  .  .  .  He 
described  the  Prince's  state  of  perturbation  of  mind  as 
beyond  anything  he  had  ever  seen.  He  conceives  the 
different  candidates  for  office  to  be  determined  upon  his 
ruin ;  and,  in  short,  I  begin  to  think  that  his  reign  will 
end  in  a  day  or  two  in  downright  insanity.  He  first 
sends  for  one  person,  then  another.  Eldon  is  always 
told  everything  that  passes,  and  the  Duke  of  York 
(Lord  Grey's  friend  and  slave)  is  the  unalterable  and 
inveterate  opposer  of  his  brother  having  anything  to 
do  with  the  Opposition.  He  and  Eldon  work  day  and 
night  to  keep  rrinney  in  the  right  course.  Melville  is 
a  great  favorite  too.  To-day  he  (Prinney)  has  seen 
the  Doctor  *  and  Westmorland,  Buckinghamshire, 
and  now  Moira  is  with  him.  Canning  has  been 
found  out  in  some  intrigue  with  Liverpool  already. 
There  has  been  some  explanation  between  Grey  and 
Whitbread,  certainly  creditable  to  the  former.  He 
has  admitted  to  the  fullest  extent  the  importance  of 
the  Brewer  t  and  his  own  unalterable  and  unfavorable 
opinion  of  Canning.  He  maintained  this  opinion  to 
his  friends  as  strongly  as  he  could,  and  pressed  them, 
as  they  valued  able  and  upright  men  to  shuffling 
rogues,  to  stand  by  Whitbread  and  abandon  Canning. 
In  this  proposition,  however,  he  stood  alone.  Petty 
and  Holland  even  were  against  him.  Grey  pronounced 
that  tho'  he  was  bound  by  this  decision,  he  knew  such 
decision  must  inevitably  be  their  ruin.  He  has  told 
all  this  to  Brougham,  as  well  as  to  Whitbread,  and 
you  know  he  always  at  least  tells  the  truth.  Of  course 
you  will  not  quote  this.  .  .  .  From  Lisbon  the  accounts 

*  Lord  Sidmouth.  t  Mr.  Whitbread. 


l6o  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  VIII. 

are  very  unfavorable.  The  American  embargo  has 
produced  the  greatest  consternation,  and  our  Com- 
missariat is  utterly  destitute  of  money  or  credit.  In 
addition  to  this,  General  officers  write  home  that  the 
ravages  of  the  late  sieges  and  other  things  have  made 
a  supply  of  30,000  men  from  this  country  absolutely 
necessary,  if  Portugal  alone  is  to  be  kept." 

"  Brooks's,  Friday,  29th. 

"  Everybody  as  wise  as  we  were  yesterday.  Moira 
has  seen  Prinney  to-day  again,  but  nothing  done. 
Moira  told  him  he  must  decline  being  any  longer 
employed  in  so  hopeless  an  undertaking,  and  is  deter- 
mined to  have  the  thing  concluded  one  way  or  other. 
Prinney  tells  him  no  Prince  was  ever  so  idolized  by 
the  people  of  this  country  as  himself,  and  that  he  is 
quite  strong  enough  to  go  on  with  any  Government 
that  he  gives  his  support  to.  Wortley  is  to  give 
another  notice  on  Monday  of  a  motion  for  Tuesday  to 
bring  this  infatuated  man  to  his  senses.  By  God !  if 
he  continues  in  his  present  state  he  will  be  having 
such  things  said  of  him  as  will  rouse  him  with  a 
witness.  ..." 

^  Brooks's,  Saturday,  30th. 

"  It  really  begins  to  be  almost  too  farcical  to  write 
about  this  madman  and  his  delay." 

"York  St.,  Monday,  ist  June. 

"As  Folkestone,  Bennett  and  I  are  to  go  from  the 
H.  of  Commons  this  afternoon  to  dine  at  Richmond,  I 
begin  my  dispatch  here,  least  I  should  have  no  time 
to  do  it  at  the  House.  Folky  and  Bennett  return  at 
night,  but  I  shall  sleep  there.  .  .  .  The  more  one  sees 
of  the  conduct  of  this  most  singular  man  [the  Prince 
Regent],  the  more  one  becomes  convinced  he  is 
doomed,  from  his  personal  character  alone,  to  shake 
his  throne.  He  is  playing,  I  have  no  doubt  he  thinks, 
some  devilish  deep  game,  from  which  he  will  find  he 
is  utterly  unable  of  extricating  himself  without  the 
most  serious  and  lasting  injury  to  himself  and  cha- 
racter. .  ,  .   I  dined  at  Taylor's  last  night  with  that 


iSi2.]        LORD   WELLESLEY   TRIES    HIS    HAND.  l6l 

excellent  young  man  Lord  Forbes,*  and  I  have  never 
seen  a  greater  appearance  of  worth  and  honor  in  any 
young  man  in  my  life.  Besides  being  Moira's  nephew, 
he  is  an  aide-de-camp  to  the  Regent,  and  he  has  received 
such  usage  from  his  Master,  either  on  his  uncle's 
account  or  his  own  voting  in  Parliament,  that  he  won't 
go  near  him,  and  greatly  to  the  horror  of  Taylor,  he 
came  to  dine  yesterday  with  the  yellow  lining  and  the 
Prince's  buttons  taken  away  from  his  coat.  He  said 
never  again  would  he  carry  about  him  so  degrading 
a  badge  of  servitude  to  such  a  master.  To  Taylor, 
who  was  done  up  in  the  neatest  edition  of  the  said 
badge,  this  was  too  much.  On  Saturday,  a  great  lot 
of  us  dined  at  Kit  Hutchinson's  request  at  the  British 
Coffee  House,  with  the  gentlemen  educated  at  Trinity 
College,  Dublin ;  Kit  in  the  chair,  and  it  really  was 
most  entertaining.  Irish  genius  for  speaking  and 
eloquence  was  never  more  conspicuous :  upon  my 
soul,  I  think  five  or  six  fellows  who  spoke — quite 
young  men — spoke  as  well  as  Pitt.  ..." 

"  House  of  Commons. 

"  Well,  now  we  have  made  a  start.  Mr.  Canning  has 
got  up  with  due  pomp  and  dignity,  and  has  declared  he 
has  full  authority  to  state  from  his  noble  friend  Lord 
Wellesley  that  he,  Lord  Wellesley,  has  this  morning 
received  from  the  Regent  his  Royal  Highness's  com- 
mands to  form  an  administration.  So  much  for  this 
first  official  act  of  the  new  Whig  Government!  .  .  ." 

"  Richmond  Hill,  June  2nd. 

"  Very  large  paper  this,  my  precious,  but  we  must 
see  what  we  can  make  of  it.  As  the  day  is  so  charm- 
ing and  the  country  so  inviting,  I  have  resolved  to 
stay  over  the  day,  and  accordingly  my  cloaths  have 
gone  to  be  washed.  I  leave,  therefore,  this  eventful 
day  in  London  to  all  the  heart-rending  anxieties  of 
politicians,  who,  I  think,  have  as  hopeful  a  prospect 
of  disappointment  as  ever  politician  had.  I  cannot 
bring  myself  to  regret  that  I  am  not  to  serve  under 

*  Not  the  Scottish  peer  of  that  name,  but  the  eldest  son  of  the  6th 
Earl  of  Granard  by  a  daughter  of  the  ist  Earl  of  Moira.  He  was 
father  of  the  present  Lord  Granard. 

M 


l62  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  VIII. 

Marquis  Wellesley  or  Mr.  Canning.  .  .  .  We  shall 
now  see  what  this  singular  association  of  statesmen 
will  be  able  to  do.  Canning  is  for  Orders  in  Council, 
Grenville  considers  them  as  the  source  of  all  the  exist- 
ing national  distress.  Grenville  thinks  the  country 
incapable  of  sustaining  the  expenditure  of  the  war : 
Wellesley  thinks  such  war  to  be  starved  by  our  penury. 
Grey  is  against  all  secret  influence ;  Prinney  says 
he  will  part  with  his  life  rather  than  his  household. 
Prinney,  Wellesley  and  Canning  have  each  betrayed 
everybody  they  have  had  to  do  with — pretty  com- 
panions for  a  man  of  honor  like  Grey !  .  .  .  Prinney 
will  not  strike  yet  to  Grey  and  Grenville  without 
conditions  to  which  they  will  not  submit.  What  is 
to  be  done,  too,  on  minor  subjects?  What  is  Jack 
Horner  to  do  with  his  notice  of  motion  on  McMahon's 
salary,  or  how  is  Bankes's  bill  to  be  permitted  to  pass, 
v^hich,  besides  abolishing  patent  places  of  all  kinds  as 
they  become  vacant,  goes  immediately  to  strike  off  our 
Paymaster-Genl.,  our  Postmaster,  our  Mustermaster, 
&c.,  &c.,  &c.,  all  of  which  said  places  so  to  be  abolished 
are  doubtless  looked  up  to  with  great  affection  and 
anxiety  by  the  young  friends  and  by  the  old  Whigs, 
by  the  Vernons,  Wards  and  McDonalds,  &c.,  or  by 
the  Ponsonbys,  Freemantles,  &c.,  &c.  I  flatter  myself 
both  Tierney  and  Huskisson  are  to  be  Cabinet 
Ministers,  which,  considering  that  Burke  and  Sheri- 
dan, Dunning  and  [illegible]  used  to  be  considered  as 
not  elevated  enough  in  rank  to  be  admitted  into  such 
high  company,  will  be  well  enough. 

"I  must,  upon  the  whole,  condemn  Grey  as  acting 
most  unwisely  in  putting  himself  forward  as  a  candi- 
date for  power  under  all  the  circumstances  of  the 
country.  He  would  have  done  much  better  to  wait 
till  Grenville's  death  or  some  other  event  dissolved 
the  fatal  connection  with  that  family.  He  ought  to 
have  let  Wellesley  and  Canning  perish  in  their  own 
intrigues,  and  he  ought  to  have  permitted  the  old  and 
feeble  Government  to  conduct  the  country  so  near  its 
ruin  that  men  could  no  longer  doubt  either  its  con- 
dition or  the  authors  of  its  calamities.  In  such  a  case, 
which  would  have  inevitably  arrived,  the  country  and 
the  Crown  would  have  called  for  his  assistance,  and 
in  such  case  only,  my  belief  is,  could  he  have  done 


iSi2.]  LORD    GREY   STANDS   ALOOF.  163 

permanent  good  to  the  country  with  honor  to  himself. 
.  .  .  Grenville  I  consider  a  dead  man,  and  Prinney, 
Wellesley  and  Canning  are  both  madmen  and  villains. 
...  In  the  meantime,  we  must  have  sport.  Amongst 
other  things,  we  must  have  the  Bank  made  to  pay  us 
in  specie  .  .  .  which  would  give  you  and  me  ;^700  per 
annum  more  than  we  have.  This  would  be  something 
like,  so  we  shall  see  what  we  shall  see." 

"  Richmond  Hill,  Wednesday,  3rd. 

"  I  have  dilly-dallied  so  long  here  that  if  I  don't  set 
out  directly  I  shall  not  get  in  time  to  write  you  a  word, 
my  precious,  so  I  will  first  fire  a  little  shot  at  you 
before  I  leave  this  place.      William  brought  us  last 
night  just   such   intelligence   as    I    was   prepared  to 
expect  from  Petty  that  the  Marquis  [Wellesley]  had 
been  with   Earl  Grey  and   had  offered  him  and   his 
friends  four  seats  in  the  Cabinet ;  that  he  himself  had 
condescended  to  become  First  Lord  of  the  Treasury, 
that  there  must  be  some  limitations  of  concession  to 
Ireland,  with  a  great  variety  of  other  restraints  upon 
the   four   poor   Foxite   and   Grenville   Ministers,  the 
whole  of  which  induced  the  Earl  to  give  the  Marquis 
the  most  unqualified  rejection  of  these  proposed  indig- 
nities.    Ha!  ha!  ha!  or  Oh  dear  me!  which  of  these 
exclamations  is  best  suited  to  the  occasion.     Is  one  to 
laugh  at  our  poor  foolish  party  having  so  obviously 
and  so  fatally  for  themselves  played  the  game  of  these 
villains  Wellesley  and  Canning,  or  is  one  to  cry  at  the 
never-failing  success  of  rascality  in  this  country?   Oh 
how  glad  1  am  that  I  had  no  hand  in  making  this  mad- 
man   Wellesley    preside   over   the   destinies   of  this 
country,  to  sacrifice  the  thousands  of  brave  lives  that 
he  will  assuredly  do  in  Spain  and  Portugal,  and  to 
torture  by  poverty  and  privations  the  thousands  that 
will  feel  the  effects  of  his  extravagance  in  England." 

"  York  St.,  Thursday,  4th. 

"  Betty  and  I  are  just  put  into  port  for  the 
purpose  of  my  writing  you  a  single  line  before  the 
post  goes.  We  have  had  a  very  prosperous  voyage 
to  Mrs.  Fitzherbert's  and  old  Lady  Grey's,  both  of 
whom   we   found   at   home.     We   have   seen    in   the 


164  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.-  [Ch.  Vlll. 

streets  various  persons  —  Albemarle,  Lord  Henry 
Fitzroy,  Parnell,*  &c.,  &c.  Well,  Prinney  is  in  a 
capital  way,  is  he  not  ?  There  was  a  meeting  last 
night  at  Grenville's  of  opposition  lords  to  hear  the 
histor}''  of  all  that  has  pjassed  on  the  late  occasion, 
and  there  was  another  similar  one  of  the  Commons 
to-day  at  Ponsonby's.  .  .  .  Wellesle}^,  we  are  told, 
was  as  good  as  turned  out  of  Carlton  House  when 
he  went  back  with  Grey's  refusal  on  Tuesday,  and 
this  accounts  for  the  '  violent  personal  objections ' 
which  he  describes  Prinney  as  having  to  Grey  and 
others.     It  is  a  rare  mess,  by  God!  .  .  ." 

"  Friday,  5th, 

".  .  .  Moira  has  done  nothing  yet.  Everybody  has 
refused  him,  but  he  is  quite  taken  in  by  the  Prince's 
cajolery,  and  there  is  no  saying  what  folly  they  may 
not  commit  in  their  selection  of  a  Ministry.  .  .  .'" 

"  York  St.,  Saturday,  6th. 

".  .  .  In  coming  up  from  the  House  I  was  much 
surprised  to  meet  Sam  (Whitbread)  covered  with 
smiles.  He  v/as  enquiring  where  he  could  find 
Sheridan.  ...  I  presumed  his  trip  to  town  was 
merely  upon  private  business,  and  in  this  persuasion 
I  remained  till  almost  3  o'clock  this  morning,  when 
old  Sheridan  became  drunk  and  communicative.  He 
then  told  me  he  had  sent  an  express  for  Sam,  and 
that  the  said  Sam  had  been  dining  at  Moira's,  with 
him  Sheridan.  Further  than  this  he  did  not  tell  me, 
excepting  the  expression  of  his  own  conviction  that 
Sam  was  the  man  both  for  the  Prince  and  the  People, 
and  that  Wellesley,  Canning  and  Grenville  must  all 
be  swamped  and  flung  overboard.  Was  there  ever 
anything  equal  to  this?  ...  If  Sam  does  come  in, 
it  must  now  be  upon  his  own  terms,  and  I  cannot 
think,  after  all  my  honest  conduct  to  him,  he  could 
desert  me.  .  .  .  The  Whigs  evidently  know  of  an 
offer  made  to  Whitbread,  and  are  as  civil  to-day  as 
be  damned.  .  .  ." 

*  Henry  Brook  Parnell,  M.P.  [1776-1842],  created  Lord  Congleton 
in  1 84 1  ;  grand-uncle  of  Charles  Stewart  Parnell. 


i8i2.]  LORD    LIVERPOOL   TAKES    OFFICE.  165 


"  Brooks's,  Monday,  Sth. 

"...  I  found  from  Sheridan  yesterday  just  before 
dinner  that  Moira  was  First  Lord  of  the  Treasury, 
and  that  it  was  expected  that  the  writs  of  Canning 
and  others  would  be  moved  for  to-night  in  the 
Commons.  .  .  .  He  said  he  and  Whitbread  were  to 
dine  at  Moira's  yesterday,  and  he  concluded  with  his 
regret  that  Whitbread  was  not  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer.  ...  I  came,  of  course,  here  in  the  even- 
ing, and  I  soon  found  there  was  a  meeting  of  the 
party  at  Ponsonby's  to  which,  as  I  had  no  summons, 
of  course  I  did  not  go.  I  found  from  people  as  they 
returned  from  this  meeting  that  Whitbread  had  given 
great  offence  by  giving  his  opinion  that  Grey  and 
Grenville  had  pushed  the  thing  too  far  in  insisting, 
under  all  circumstances  of  the  case,  upon  the  sur- 
render of  the  household.  .  .  .  This  morning  brought  to 
my  bed  a  note  from  Whitbread  desiring  to  see  me, 
which  of  course  I  instantly  complied  with,  and  from 
himself  I  learnt  all  the  particulars  of  his  intercourse 
with  Moira.  ,  .  .  Moira  produced  his  plan  for  revok- 
ing Orders  in  Council,  conciliating  America  by  all 
manner  of  means,  the  most  rigid  economical  reform, 
nay,  parliamentary  reform  if  it  was  wished  for  :  in 
short  every  subject  was  most  agreeable  and  satis- 
factory. ...  So  far  so  good  .  .  .  but  I  have  such  a 
devil  of  new  matter  pressing  upon  me  1  must  be 
off.  Huskisson  has  just  announced  to  people  in  the 
streets  that  Moira's  powers  are  revoked,  and  that  a 
message  is  coming  from  the  Prince  saying  he  (Moira) 
cannot  form  a  Government,  and  that  he  has  ordered 
his  old  servants  to  proceed  with  public  business." 

"  House  of  Commons.     Same  date. 

"Well,  this  is  beyond  anything.  Castlereagh  has 
just  told  us  that  Moira  resigned  the  commission  this 
morning,  and  that  His  Royal  Highness  had  appointed 
Lord  Liverpool  Prime  Minister.  "Was  there  ever  any- 
thing equal  to  this  ?  .  .  ." 


l66  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  VIII. 

"  House  of  Commons,  Tuesday,  9th. 

".  .  .  There  has  been  a  meeting  of  Government 
members  at  Lord  Liverpool's  house  to-day,  and  he 
has  declared  to  them  the  intention  of  the  Government 
not  to  oppose  the  Catholic  question  as  a  Government 
measure,  but  everybody  is  to  do  as  he  pleases.  Of 
course  the  measure  will  now  take  place  and  it  will  be 
done  by  Liverpool,  Eldon,*  &c.  This  convinces  me 
more  than  ever  of  the  great  fault  committed  by  Grey 
and  Grenville  in  letting  their  negociations  go  off 
about  the  Household  .  .  .  but  they  are  all  at  once 
so  prodigiously  constitutional,  one  almost  suspects 
one's  own  judgment.  They  are,  at  all  events,  dished 
for  the  present,  and  most  lucky  will  they  be  to  be 
so,  if  anything  like  a  rupture  with  America  is  now 
determined  upon  by  that  country,  because  that 
event,  I  am  positive,  gives  check-mate  at  once  to  the 
revenue  of  this  country."! 

"  House  of  Commons,  Wednesday,  loth. 

"Well,  the  Doctor  I  succeeds  Ryder  as  Secretary 
of  State  for  the  Home  Department ;  Lord  Harrowby 
succeeds  the  Doctor ;  Lord  Bathurst  succeeds  Lord 
Liverpool,  Bragge  Bathurst  is  Chancellor  of  the 
Dutchy — such  is  the  worthy  nczv  Administration.  Is 
it  not  capital?  so  much  for  'No  predilections'  nor 
yet  *  resentments.' " 

Sydney  Smith  to  Mr.  Crccvcy  (who  had  written  at 
Lord  Grey's  request  to  desire  him  to  vote  for  Lord 
Milton). 

"June  6th,  1812. 
"Your    letter    followed    me    here,   where   I    had 
come  after  voting  for  Lord  Milton, §  one  of  the  most 

*  It  was  done  by  their  party,  but  not  until  sixteen  years  had 
passed  ;  Liverpool  was  dead,  and  Eldon  as  strongly  opposed  as  ever  to 
emancipation. 

t  War  with  the  United  States  began  exactly  nine  days  after  these 
words  were  written. 

+  Lord  Sidmouth. 

§  Eldest  son  of  the  4th  Earl  Fitzwilliam. 


i8i2.]  CREEVEY   STANDS    FOR   LIVERPOOL.  167 

ungainly  looking  young  men  I  ever  saw.  I  gave  my 
other  vote  for  Wilberforce,*  on  account  of  his  good 
conduct  in  Africa,  a  place  returning  no  members  to 
parliament,  but  still,  from  the  extraordinary  re- 
semblance its  inhabitants  bear  to  human  creatures, 
of  some  consequence.  An  election  out  of  West- 
minster is  sad  v^^ork — at  the  moment  of  the  greatest 
ferment,  York  was,  in  the  two  great  points  of  ebriety 
and  pugnacity,  as  quiet  as  average  London  at  about 
3  o'clock  in  the  morning." 

The  following  extracts  are  from  the  exceedingly 
voluminous  reports  which  Mr.  Creevey  sent  almost 
daily  to  his  wife  during  the  contest  for  Liverpool. 

*'  Tuesday,  |  past  one.  "  The  name  of  this  place  is  the 

(September,  1812.)  Fair  Unknown,  a  single  house 

14  miles  this  side  of  Colchester 
and  about  30  miles  on  this 
side  of  Thetford. 

"No  horses,  by  Jingo!  so  I'll  eat  a  tight  little 
beef  stake,  tho'  it  is  so  early  in  the  day ;  but  what, 
you  know,  am  I  to  do  till  the  horses  come  home? 
.  .  .  Oh,  I  find  the  name  of  my  present  residence  is 
Copdock.  .  .  ." 

"Thetford,  Wednesday,  September,  1S12. 

".  ,  .  So  the  parliament  is  really  dissolved,  my 
pretty,  and  I  have  seen  the  principal  people  of  my 
constituents,  and  they  behave  like  angels  to  me.  I 
mean  your  Bidwells,  Faux's,  Pawsons,  &c.,  &c.,  take 
a  deep  interest  about  Liverpool,  and  will  do  what- 
ever 1  wish  as  to  the  time  of  bringing  on  my  election 
here,  so  as  to  forward  my  views  at  Liverpool,  will 
not  be  the  least  offended  if  I  succeed  at  Liverpool 
for  electing  to  sit  for  the  latter  place,  and  will  bring 
in  any  other  person  in  my  place  whom  the  Petre 
family  shall  name.  .  .  ,  This  is  something  like,  is  it 
not?     What  is  more,  they  talk  of  dining  at  their  own 

*  WiUiam  Wilberforce  [i 759-1833],  M. P.  for  Hull  17S0,  and  for 
Yorkshire  1784.  An  active  philanthropist,  his  name  must  ever  be 
associated  with  the  suppression  of  the  Slave  Trade. 


l68  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS,  [Ch.  VIII. 

expense  on  the  day  of  election,  i.e.,  giving  me  a  dinner 
instead  of  my  giving  them  one,  and  so  to  save  me  as 
they  say,  from  being  plundered.  I  begin  to  think 
Mankind's  damned  fair,  don't  you  ?  ...  I  am  now 
perfectly  at  ease  upon  this  subject,  and  to  be  sure 
there  was  never  anyone  so  fortunate  as  I  am  in 
escaping  the  agony  of  any  dilemma  upon  an  occasion 
of  such  complicated  importance." 

Unpleasant  rumours  began  to  fly  about  presently 
concerning  the  intentions  of  the  Duke  of  Grafton, 
who  owned  the  second  seat  for  Thetford,  the  Duke 
of  Norfolk  and  Lord  Petre  owning  the  other. 
Creevey  had  become  the  guest  of  Mr.  Bernard 
Howard  at  Fornham,  near  Bury,  pending  a  summons 
to  Liverpool.  He  was  getting  nervous  about  the 
tricks  his  colleague  in  that  candidature  might  play 
him,  for  he  had  learnt  already  to  regard  Brougham 
with  considerable  distrust. 

".  .  .  Forster  speaks  very  mysteriously  about 
Ossulston's  having  the  Duke's  seat  (for  Thetford) 
again,  which  alarmed  me  not  a  little.  Our  neigh- 
bour. Marchioness  Cornwallis,  was  passing  in  her 
barouche,  and  calls  Howard  to  the  carriage,  who  was 
alone  in  the  road. 

"'And  so,'  says  she,  'the  Duke  of  Grafton  turns 
Mr.  Creevey  out  of  Thetford  at  last.' 

"'Upon  your  soul!'  says  Barny,  'then  there's  a 
volley  for  you,  for  Mr.  Creevey  is  now  at  my  house, 
and  is  to  be  member  for  Thetford  next  Thursday,  and 
for  Liverpool  the  week  after.' 

"  So  the  Gordon  chicnne  *  went  off  as  grumpy 
as  be  damned !  .  .  .  Howard  is  very  good  to  me 
and  I  amuse  him  very  much.  He  is  confidential 
about  young  Harry  and  the  dukedom,  which  he 
evidently  expects  to  be  in  possession  of  before  long. 

*  The  Marchioness  Cornwallis  (who  died  in  1850)  was  daughter 
of  Jane,  Duchess  of  Gordon,  wife  of  the  4tb  duke. 


i8i2.]  RE-ELECTED    FOR  THETFORD.  169 

I    see    he   means    never   to    sell    his    seats.     Jockey 
does."* 

"  Fornham,  Sunday,  4th  October, 

"  Diddy  t  has  no  letter  again  to-day  from  Roscoe,t 
but  he  expects  one  by  express  in  the  course  of  the 
evening.  I  should  not  be  least  surprised  if  the  Liver- 
pool election  did  not  take  place  till  to-morrow  week, 
and  that  in  that  event  I  might  safely  stay  over  the 
Thetford  one  on  Thursday.  .  .  .  This  express,  Vv^hen- 
ever  it  comes  from  Roscoe,  will  bring  with  it,  of 
course,  some  of  Brog-ham's  ingenuous  remarks.  .  .  . 
Bernard  Howard  is  deeply  affected  with  the  apparent 
treachery  of  my  colleague  [Brougham],  and  his  evident 
wishes  to  give  me  the  go-by  ;  but  we  shall  see  what 
we  shall  see." 

The  express  came  that  night  ;  a  note  from 
Brougham,  and  a  letter  from  Roscoe  with  news  from 
Liverpool. 

".  .  .  Gascoigne  and  Tarleton  §  came  here  to-day, 
both  indifferently  supported,  particularly  the  latter, 
who  came  on  horseback  with  only  two  friends.  They 
are  neither  of  them  popular.  .  .  .  Canning,  it  is  said, 
will  make  his  appearance  on  Monday.  .  .  .  Gladstone 
is  his  commander-in-chief  Believe  me,  our  prospects 
are  very  flattering." 

Creevey,  therefore,  had  to  set  out  for  Liverpool 
post  haste,  but  found  time  at  every  stopping-place  to 
write  to  his  wife.  He  was  duly  elected  without 
opposition  for  Thetford  on  8th  October. 

*  The  nth  Duke  of  Norfolk  was  known  as  "the  Jockey."  He 
died  in  181 5,  and  was  succeeded  in  the  dukedom  by  the  above- 
mentioned  Bernard  Howard,  great-grandfather  of  the  present  duke. 

t  Creevey's  pet  names  among  his  family  were  Diddy  and  Nummy. 

X  William  Roscoe  [1753-1831],  historian,  c^c.  ;  represented  Liver- 
pool in  1806,  but  lost  his  seat  in  1807. 

§  The  old  members  for  Liverpool.  Tarleton  retired  in  favour  of 
Canning.  Colonel  (afterwards  General  Sir  Banastre)  Tarleton  [1754- 
1833]  was  for  twenty-one  years  member  for  Liverpool. 


I/C  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  VIII. 

"  Cambridge,  Monday,  5th  Oct. 

"  You  will  be  somewhat  surprised  to  see  Diddy's 
handwriting  from  his  favorite  University.  The  ac- 
companying letter  from  Wm.  Roscoe  will  explain  this 
movement.  .  .  .  Bernard  Howard  has  been  as  good 
to  me  as  possible,  and  yoti  would  delight  in  his 
suspicions  of  Brougham.  .  .  .  Come,  Mr.  John  Horn, 
where  are  my  eels  and  mutton-chops? — Here  they 
are,  by  Jingo,  and  the  said  John,  who  is  an  old  friend 
of  mine  of  five  and  twenty  years'  standing,  says  he 
can  give  me  an  excellent  bottle  of  port. — No  such 
thing  :  I  never  tasted  worse.  The  chops  were,  how- 
ever, damned  fair.  ...  1  send  for  the  approbation  of 
yourself  and  my  dears,  Diddy's  colours  at  Thetford. 
.  .  .  To  Diddy  himself  they  produce  most  agreeable 
sensations ;  they  constitute  to  him  a  certain  seat  in 
parliament,  and  they  remind  him  of  a  connection 
really  virtuous,  without  propitiating  a  capricious 
bitch,  and  without  Villain  [Brougham]  always  fright- 
ful. So  I  am  as  happy  as  a  grig  with  little  Thety  and 
don't  care  a  damn  for  Liverpool  my  little  Pef" 

Arrived  in  Liverpool,  Creevey  was  plunged  into 
the  thick  of  a  hot  contest,  the  details  whereof  are  of 
little  interest  at  this  day.  At  that  period,  the  poll 
remained  open  for  many  days,  generally  a  fortnight, 
and  Creevey  reported  progress  every  night  to  his 
wife  at  Brighton.  Brougham  succeeded  at  first  in 
reassuring  him  as  to  his  good  faith. 

"  Liverpool,  nth  Oct. 
"...  I  must  say  Brougham  behaves  as  well  as  a 
man  can  possibly  do,  and  I  am  every  day  more  struck 
with  the  endless  mine  of  his  intellectual  resources. 
Nevertheless  his  speech  to  the  crowd  yesterday  was 
thought  not  near  so  good  as  mine.  .  .  .  The  people 
pet  me  in  a  way  that  is,  upon  my  soul,  affecting.  .  .  . 
Lord  Hutchinson  says  the  Russian  accounts  of  their 
victories  are  all  lies,  and  that  they  are  inevitably 
ruined,  and  the  French  quite  safe  in  Moscow,  having 
quite  cut  off  all  the  trade  of  Petersburgh  and  Riga." 


i8i2.]  DEFEAT   AT   LIVERPOOL.  l/I 

"  14th  October. 

".  .  .  We  had  an  excellent  day  yesterday  :  Sefton, 
Stanley,*  Brougham,  Roscoe,  Ashton,  Heywood,  &c., 
&c.  To  be  sure  it  is  quite  astonishing  to  see  the 
superiority  of  our  friends  over  those  of  the  enemy  as 
to  rank  and  good  manners,  and  then  they  do  behave 
so  perfectly  to  one,  it  is  quite  beautiful.  .  .  .  Sefton 
has  really  been  most  interesting  to  me  since  breakfast 
in  discussing  the  education  of  his  son.  Lord  Molyneux, 
who  is  sixteen  years  of  age,  at  Eton  and  a  tutor  with 
him.  Who  would  think  that  these  people  (I  mean  he 
and  my  lady),  in  the  midst  of  their  eating  and  drink 
and  play  and  racing,  &c.,  Szc,  are  eternally  at  work 
in  the  education  of  their  children  ?  .  .  .  My  lady  is 
greatly  touched  at  my  writing  to  you  every  day,  and 
praises  me  much  for  it.  .  .  ." 

"Thursday,  i8th  Oct. 

"Well,  my  pretty,  Diddy  and  Brog-ham  are  fairly 
done — beat  to  mummy;  but  we  are  to  take  the  chance 
of  some  miracle  taking  place  in  our  favor  during  the 
night,  and  are  not  to  strike  till  eleven  or  twelve  or 
one  to-morrow.  We  had  to  do  with  artists  who  did 
not  know  their  trade.  Poor  Roscoe  made  much  too 
sanguine  an  estimate  of  our  strength.  .  .  ." 

Creevey  and  Brougham  withdrew  from  the  contest 
next  day,  Creevey  being  at  the  bottom  of  the  poll 
with  1060  votes,  but  claiming  a  moral  victory. 

"To  play  second  fiddle  to  Brougham,"  he  wrote 
to  his  wife,  "  would  not  be  worth  a  dam.  If  it  be  an 
object  worthy  my  ambition  to  get  possession  of 
Liverpool  and  to  keep  it,  then  I  say  that  my  game,  and 
my  game  only,  has  been  played,  and  that  the  whole 
draniaiis  personcc,  Brougham  and  Canning  included, 
might  have  been  puppets  selected  by  m^^self  to  serve 
my  own  ulterior  purposes.  Depend  upon  it,  Diddy 
never  played  a  slyer  part  than  in  his  unassuming, 
modest  character  in  which  he  has  appeared  before  his 
fellow  townsmen. 

*  Afterwards  13th  Earl  of  Derby. 


172  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  VIII. 

".  .  .  My  popularity  with  all  sides  I  find  still  keeps 
up  to  the  last,  thd  I  zuas  last  upon  the  poll.  .  .  .  There 
is  to  be  a  grand  affair  here  on  Friday — a  dinner  and  a 
ball  and  supper  for  Canning.  He  goes  dining  out 
daily,  to  Boulton's  and  such  places.  I  envy  not  his 
happy  lot  /  .  .  ." 

"Croxteth  Park,  17th  Oct.,  1812. 

"Now  for  the  first  time  since  Diddy  left  home, 
can  he  sit  down  in  quietness  to  write  to  his  pretty. 
.  .  ,  As  to  the  result  of  the  campaign,  disastrous 
as  it  is  in  the  extent  of  the  defeat,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  consider  the  whole  as  unfavorable  to  me 
In  the  first  place,  my  friends  will  have  no  occasion 
for  their  compassion  for  my  being  out  of  parliament. 
This  is  everything  to  begin  with.  Then  I  have  begun 
a  connection  with  the  town  of  Liverpool  to  be  used 
or  not  at  my  discretion  on  future  occasions.  .  .  . 
Canning,  in  the  present  state  of  things,  imtst  be  shortly 
in  office,  and  then  he  vacates,  and  I  never  will  believe 
that  as  a  Minister  of  State  he  will  submit  to  the  club 
canvassing.  .  .  .  You  never  saw  a  fellow  in  your  life 
look  so  miserable  as  he  has  done  throughout.  ...  I 
have  been  perfectly  amazed  during  this  campaign  at  the 
marvellous  talent  of  Brougham  in  his  addresses  to  the 
people.  He  poured  in  a  volley  of  declamation  against 
the  immortal  memory  of  Pitt  the  day  before  yesterday, 
describing  his  immortality  as  proclaimed  by  the 
desolation  of  his  own  country  and  the  subjugation  of 
mankind,  that,  by  God,  shook  the  very  square  and  all 
the  houses  in  it  from  the  applause  it  met  with.  Yester- 
day he  renewed  the  subject  by  a  comparison  of  Fox 
with  Pitt,  that  was  done  with  equal  skill  and  success. 
Still,  1  cannot  like  him.  He  has  always  some  game 
or  underplot  out  of  sight — some  mysterious  corre- 
spondence —  some  extraordinary  connection  with 
persons  quite  opposite  to  himself" 

"  Knowsley,  19th  Oct. 

".  .  .  We  are  all  mighty  gracious  here.  My  lad^^ 
[Derby]  told  me  before  we  went  in  to  dinner  yesterday 
to  sit  with  my  best  ear  next  to  her.  .  .  .  We  sat  down 
22  to  dinner,  all  of  them  Hornbys,  except  4  Hortons,  2 
Ramthornes,  young  Ashton  and  myself    My  lord  was 


lli:\kN'    I'.kOl'dll  \\|    IN    I'-AKLV    l.ll'l'.. 


[To face f.  i-j2. 


i8i2.]  AT   KNOWSLEY.  173 

in  excellent  spirits,  and,  for  such  company,  it  went  off 
all  very  well.  ...  I  never  saw  Lady  Stanley  looking 
so  well,  or  in  such  good  spirits.  She  and  her  lord 
are  damned  attentive  to  Diddy,  so  upon  the  whole, 
you  know,  it  is  very  well  he  came.  ...  I  won  a 
shilling  last  night,  I'd  have  you  know,  and  then  ate 
some  shrimps,  and  Lady  Derby  would  have  some 
negus  made  for  me  alone ;  and  all  the  toadys  laughed 
very  much,  because  my  lady  did,  so  it  was  all  very 
well.  .  .  . 

"There  is  beginning  to  be  damned  distress  in 
Liverpool  already,  and  if  the  Americans  will  but 
continue  the  war  for  a  twelvemonth,  Masters  Canning 
and  Gascoigne  and  their  supporters  will  have  enough 
of  it. 

".  .  .  Let  me  not  omit  to  mention  to  you  that 
Col.  Gordon,*  who  you  know  is  with  Wellington,  is  in 
constant  correspondence  with  both  Grey  and  Whit- 
bread,  and  that  his  accounts  are  of  the  most  desponding 
cast.  He  considers  our  ultimate  discomfiture  as  a 
question  purely  of  time,  and  that  it  may  happen  on 
any  day,  however  early ;  that  our  pecuniary  resources 
are  utterly  exhausted,  and  that  the  [illegible]  of  the 
French  in  recovering  from  their  difficulties  is  in- 
exhaustible; that  Wellington  himself  considers  this 
resurrection  of  Marmont's  broken  troops  as  an  absolute 
miracle  in  war,  and  in  short  Gordon  considers  that 
Wellington  is  in  very  considerable  danger.f  Of 
course  you  \v\\\  not  use  this  information  but  in  the 
most  discreet  manner," 

Creevey  took  his  defeat  with  equanimity,  falling 
back  upon  his  seat  at  Thctford.  Not  so  Brougham, 
who  could  not  but  feel  sore  at  his  exclusion  from  an 

*  The  Hon.  Sir  Alexander  Gordon,  brother  of  the  4th  Earl  of 
Aberdeen.  He  was  aide-de-camp,  first  to  his  uncle,  Sir  David  Baird, 
then  to  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  and  was  killed  at  Waterloo. 

t  Marmont  having  been  defeated  at  Salamanca  on  22nd  July, 
Wellington  occupied  Madrid.  But  on  21st  October  he  was  forced  to 
raise  the  siege  of  Burgos  and  begin  his  retreat  upon  the  Portuguese 
frontier,  which  partook  more  of  the  nature  of  disaster  than  any 
operation  ever  undertaken  by  him. 


174  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  VIII. 

arena  where  he  felt  so  well  qualified  to  excel.  And 
when  Brougham  felt  sore,  he  made  it  his  business  to 
make  others  smart  also;  never  did  he  forgive  Grey 
for  the  philosophy  with  M^hich  that  gentleman  accepted 
Brougham's  departure  from  Parliament. 

Henry  Brougham  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"The  Hoo,  1812. 
".  .  .  Should  I  (being  quite  certain  that  I  am  oiti 
for  good,  inasmuch  as  I  see  no  possible  seat  and  have 
received  from  all  the  leaders,  except  Grey,  regular 
letters  of  dismissal,  thanking  me  for  past  services, 
&c.)  sJionld  I  take  parliamentary  practice  or  not?  My 
first  intention  was  quite  clear  agt.  it ;  for,  tho'  I  don't 
affect  to  say  a  large  bit  of  money  would  be  disagree- 
able, yet  gold  may  be  bought  too  dear,  and  I  don't 
like  to  lower  myself,  either  in  Parlt.  or  the  country, 
to  Adam's  level.  I  never  hesitated  on  this  till  I  began 
to  get  angry  with  the  leading  Whigs  for  their  cool 
way  of  taking  leave  [of  me]  ;  as  much  as  to  say — it  is 
out  of  the  question  our  ever  bringing  you  in  again. 
This,  and  the  knowledge  of  others,  as  Plume  [?],  &c., 
being  brought  in,  has  rather  raised  my  spleen,  and 
given  me  an  inclination  to  go  into  that  line  and  make 
enough  to  buy  a  seat  (with  what  I  can  afford  to  add, 
viz.  i^2000  or  ;^25oo),  and  then  come  in  and  enjoy  the 
purest  of  all  pleasures — at  once  do  what  I  most 
approve  of  in  politics  and  give  the  black  ones  an 
infernal  licking  every  other  night !  Now  really  this 
is  my  only  inducement,  and  I  am  half  doubting  about 
it.  My  judgment  tells  me  not  to  go  into  Committee 
practice ;  but  what  do  you  think  ?  I  own  I  shall  be 
pleased  if  you  are  as  clear  agt.  it  as  I  feel ;  but  pray 
give  your  opinion  ivith  dispatch.  Talk  it  over  with 
Ward  if  you  see  him.  .  .  ." 


(     175    ) 


CHAPTER   IX. 

1813-1814. 

The  Tories  came  back  triumphant  from  the  polls  in 
18 1 2.  Lord  Liverpool  had  succeeded  Perceval  as 
Prime '  Minister  ;  although  Canning  remained  still  an 
ominous,  brooding  figure  on  the  skirts  of  the  party. 
Castlereagh  had  succeeded  Wellesley  at  the  Foreign 
Office,  and  his  charming  manner  and  amiability  stood 
him  in  far  better  stead  as  leader  of  the  House  of 
Commons  than  greater  rhetorical  gifts  could  have 
done.  Moreover,  his  able  and  far-sighted  conduct  of 
foreign  policy,  coupled  with  the  favourable  progress 
of  the  Peninsular  campaign,  impressed  men  at  last 
with  the  conviction  that  Napoleon  had  overshot  his 
mark,  and  that  the  will  of  England  was  to  be  enforced. 
Under  these  depressing  circumstances,  the  old  Whigs 
inclined  to  withdraw  from  active  hostilities  in  Par- 
liament; while  the  Radicals — "the  Mountain,"  as  they 
delighted  to  call  themselves — cast  about  for  some 
new  weapon  of  offence  against  the  hated  Administra- 
tion. There  was  one  ready  to  their  hand — one  that 
was  to  serve  them  for  many  a  year  to  come ;  and  it 
was  Brougham,  though  without  a  seat  in  Parliament, 
who  best  saw  its  value  and  how  it  was  to  be  wielded. 
It  were  an  unpleasant  and  unnecessary  task  to 
repeat   the   unlovely-   story   of   the    Prince    Regent's 


176  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.        [Ch.  IX. 

married  life.  It  is  enough  to  remember  that,  in  order 
to  please  his  father,  George  III.,  and  induce  him  to 
pay  his  debts,  the  Prince  married  Princess  Caroline 
of  Brunswick  in  1795.  She  never  was  an  agreeable 
woman ;  there  never  was  the  slightest  affection  be- 
tween them,  and,  after  the  birth  of  their  only  child. 
Princess  Charlotte,  they  separated ;  and  the  Prince, 
among  many  other  less  venial  loves,  returned  to  Mrs. 
Fitzherbert,  whom  he  had  solemnly  married  in  1786; 
and  for  whom,  as  Mr,  Creevey  has  already  explained  in 
these  papers,  he  maintained  a  remarkable  establish- 
ment at  Brighton  and  in  London.  Meanwhile,  the 
Princess  of  Wales  resided  at  Blackheath,  and  the 
profligate  life  of  her  husband  sufficed  to  attract  to 
her  a  large  share  of  popular  commiseration.  News 
filtered  slowly  to  the  provinces  in  those  days  of  tardy 
communication,  else  the  public  scandal  must  have 
roused  the  nation  to  dangerous  manifestations. 

In  1806,  owing  to  manifold  indiscretions  of  this 
unfortunate  Princess,  a  Commission  of  twenty-three 
Privy  Councillors  was  appointed,  at  her  husbands 
instance,  to  inquire  into  her  conduct.  She  was  ac- 
quitted on  the  charge  of  having  borne  an  illegitimate 
child,  though  censure  was  passed  upon  her  mode  of 
life.  George  III.  refused  to  allow  Princess  Charlotte 
to  be  taken  out  of  her  mother's  custody,  but  when  the 
kindly  old  King  became  hopelessly  mad,  the  power 
passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Regent,  who  forbade  his 
wife  to  see  her  daughter  more  than  once  a  fortnight. 
Thereupon  the  Princess  addressed  a  letter  of  re- 
monstrance to  her  husband.  The  only  acknowledg- 
ment she  received  was  as  follows,  from  the  Prime 
Minister  : — 


I8I3-I4-]     THE   REGENT'S    DOMESTIC    AFFAIRS.  1/7 

Lord  Liverpool  to  Lady  Charlotte  Campbell. 

"  Fife  House,  28  Jany.,  1813. 

"  Lord  Liverpool  has  the  Honour,  in  answer  to 
Lady  Charlotte  Campbell's  note  of  this  morning,  to 
acquaint  her  Ladyship  for  the  Information  of  Her 
Royal  Highness  the  Princess  of  Wales  that  the 
Prince  Regent,  having  permitted  the  Lord  Chancellor 
and  Lord  Liverpool  to  communicate  to  His  Royal 
Highness  the  Contents  of  the  Letter  which  they  had 
received  from  the  Princess  in  such  manner  as  they 
might  think  proper,  the  Letter  of  the  Princess  was 
read  to  His  Royal  Highness. 

"  His  Royal  Highness  was  not  pleased  to  signify 
any  commands  upon  it." 

After  the  general  election  of  18 12,  it  was  obvious 
that  the  Opposition  had  no  further  grounds  for  hope 
from  their  ancient  friendship  with  the  Prince  Regent. 
He  had  thrown  them  overboard,  as  he  never  hesitated 
to  do  anybody  who  had  ceased  to  be  useful  or 
amusing  to  him.  Brougham,  therefore,  who  had 
been  presented  to  the  Princess  of  Wales  in  1809,  and 
who  perceived  how  the  sympathy  excited  by  her 
unfortunate  position  might  be  made  to  reflect  odium 
upon  Ministers,  and  at  the  same  time  to  injure  the 
Prince  Regent,  proffered  his  legal  services  to  the 
Princess.  Associated  with  him  was  Whitbread,  who, 
however  little  may  be  thought  of  his  discretion,  was 
probably  perfectly  disinterested  and  sincere  in  de- 
siring that  justice -should  be  done.  Acting  under  the 
advice  of  these  counsellors,  after  waiting  in  vain  for 
an  answer  to  her  letter  to  her  husband,  the  Princess 
caused  the  said  letter  to  be  published  in  the  Morning 
Chronicle.  The  result  was  the  appointment  of  another 
commission    of  three  and   twenty  Privy  Councillors, 

N 


178  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  IX. 

who,  by  21  votes  to  2,  supported  the  Prince's  decree 
about  the  intercourse  that  should  be  permitted  be- 
tween his  wife  and  daughter.  From  this  time  forward 
Brougham,  perceiving  the  means  of  avenging  the 
treatment  of  the  Whigs  by  the  Prince  Regent  and,  at 
the  same  time,  making  political  capital  out  of  the 
Princess's  wrongs,  became  indefatigable  in  the  cause. 
He  and  Whitbread  drew  to  themselves  the  cordial 
support  of  the  Radicals,  who  waxed  indignant  with 
the  old  Whigs  by  reason  of  their  constitutional 
scruples  in  taking  action  against  the  Regent.  Thus 
the  schism  in  the  Opposition  grew  ever  deeper;  nor 
was  it  any  part  of  Brougham's  plan  that  it  should  be 
healed,  so  long  as  he  should  be  out  of  Parliament. 
He  wrote  incessantly  to  Creevey  about  the  varying 
phases  of  the  case,  which  it  would  be  wearisome  and 
unprofitable  to  follow  in  detail.  A  few  extracts  follow 
as  examples  of  the  style  and  spirit  of  his  letters,  in 
which  the  Prince  Regent  is  usually  referred  to  as 
"  Prinney  "  or  "  P.,"  the  Princess  of  Wales  as  "  Mrs. 
P.,"  and  Princess  Charlotte  as  ''young  P."  The 
sequence  of  Brougham's  letters  is  matter  for  specu- 
lation, ovv^ing  to  his  habit  of  not  dating  them.  In 
some  cases  the  exact  date  can  be  learnt  from  the 
postmark. 


Henry  Brougham  to  Mr.  Creevey  [at  Brighton']. 

"  Brooks's,  1813. 

"Dear  Creevey, 

"  Come  to  town  to-morrow  for  Mr.  Prinney. 
Let  me  console  you  with  the  news  that  the  fellow 
was  hissed  to-day  going  to  Court,  and  hooted  loudly. 
All  this  is  good  .  .  .  A  word  or  two  upon  the  question 
of  peace  or  war.     Canning   was   down  yesterday — 


1813-14.]      BROUGHAM   ON   THE   WAR-PATH.  179 

Bogey*  for  war — Ld.  Grey  semi-pacific — Samf  the 
only  peace-maker.  Prinney  /// — dropsy,  [illegible], 
strictures,  &c. — it  will  do ! " 

*'  Temple. 

"Dear  C,  ' 

"  In  order  to  keep  you  up  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Prinnies  as  they  go  on,  I  write  from  time  to  time,  for 
if  I  let  some  days  pass  it  would  take  too  long  a  time 
at  this  busy  season,  when  I  really  have  my  hands 
quite  full,  were  there  no  Prinnies  in  the  world. 
Also,  this  way  of  apprizing  you  of  things  as  they 
happen  enables  you  to  form  a  safe  opinion  by  being 
kept  constantly  informed. 

"The  scene  at  Carlton  House  is  quite  perfect: 
there  is  nothing  at  all  equal  to  it.  I  laughed  for  an 
hour.  Of  course  Mrs.  Ffitzherbert]  must  be  re- 
ligiously kept  concealed.  I  have  an  arrear  of  things 
which  are  too  long  to  write,  and  some  things  to  shew  ; 
so  these  must  be  left  till  you  come  to  town.  The  most 
curious  is  young  P.'s  letter  to  old  P.  which  gave  rise 
to  all  the  row  at  Windsor. 

"  Notwithstanding  the  opening  all  letters,  which 
we  at  first  thought  under  the  Dss.  of  L.  would  have 
been  terribly  inconvenient,  things  have  got  back 
nearly  into  their  own  channel,  for  young  P.  contrived 
to  send  her  mother  a  letter  of  28  pages,  and  to  re- 
ceive from  her  the  Morning  Chronicle  with  all  the 
articles  about  herself,  as  well  as  the  examination. 
Now  these,  I  take  it,  are  exactly  what  old  P.  had 
rather  she  did  not  see.  She  takes  the  most  pro- 
digious interest  in  the  controversy,  and  I  am  going 
to  draw  up  a  legal  opinion  respecting  her  case.  .  .  . 
I  plainly  see  it  excites  no  small  anxiety,  for  the  D.  of 
Glos'ter  asked  me  very  earnestly  if  I  knew  from 
whence  the  articles  in  the  M.  C.  came,  and  was  greatly 
[illegible]  when  I  told  him  Yarmouth  was  the  man  in 
Courier,  which,  he  certainly  is.  Of  course,  my  helping 
Perr}''  to  his  law  is  a  profound  secret.  I  told  the  D.  I 
knew  nothing  about  it.  He  had  no  right  to  put  the 
question. 

"  A  strange   attempt  was  made   by  McMahon    to 

*  Lord  Grenville. 

t  Whitbread.  The  question  was  the  dispute  with  the  United  States. 


I  So  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  IX. 

bribe  and  then  to  bully  the  editor  of  the  Star  (which 
is  greatly  in  the  Pss's.  interest).  He  wanted  him  to 
insert  a  paragraph  against  her.  Last  Saturday  he 
went  again,  and  such  a  scene  passed  as  I  would  fain 
send  you,  having  before  me  the  man's  own  written 
statement ;  but  1  dare  not,  in  case  it  is  sent  you.  It 
began  with  enquiries  and  offers — to  know  the  advisers 
of  his  paper  on  the  subject  of  the  Pss.,  and  whether 
she  had  anything  to  say  to  it,  and  offers  of  paying  for 
a  paragraph  ;  and  ended  with  his  saying  he  should 
come  again  on  Monday ;  and  then  going  to  see  the 
press,  and  talking  to  every  one  of  20  printers,  and 
giving  them  2  guinea  to  drink ! !  We  had  a  man  to 
meet  him  and  identify  and  witness  his  bribery  on 
Monday,  and  I  expect  his  report.  .  .  . 

"  In  a  few  days  we  must  open  our  batteries  in 
form.  Sam  [Whitbread]  has  had  it  out  with  Sheridan 
at  Southill,  and  writes  that  he  is  quite  convinced  they 
have  no  case  at  all.  ...  I  expect  to  see  the  Govt  Jib, 
for  tho'  the  fire  of  the  outposts  is  really  most  for- 
midable, it  is  distant  and  scattered ; — that  of  the  City 
is  very  near  and  loud,  and  Prinney  is  likely  to  be 
frightened  by  it.  .  .  .  As  for  little  P.  in  gejieral,  it  is  a 
long  chapter.  Her  firmness  I  am  sure  of,  and  she 
has  proved  to  a  singular  degree  adviseable  and  dis- 
creet ;  but  for  anything  further,  as  sincerity,  &:c.,  &c., 
one  must  see  much  more  to  make  such  an  exception 
to  the  rule  credible.  However,  my  principle  is — take 
her  along  with  you  as  far  as  you  both  go  the  same 
road.  It  is  one  of  the  constitutional  means  of  making 
head  against  a  revenue  of  105  millions  (diminished, 
I  am  glad  to  say,  this  year  in  the  most  essential 
branch  of  all — excise),  an  army  of  i  million,  and  800 
millions  of  debt.  .  .  ." 

"  Lancaster,  Monday,  1813. 
"  You  will  think  it  rather  cool  my  not  coming  to 
tov/n  as  soon  as  possible  in  the  present  state  of 
affairs,  but  I  have  two  reasons.  I  think  Mrs.  Prinnie 
will  be  insisting  on  some  further  measures  the  moment 
she  sees  me,  and  I  wish  it  to  subside  into  an  arrange- 
ment before  I  return.  I  shall  come  up  as  soon  as  they 
begin  to  negociate.  My  other  reason  is  a  degree  of 
dislike  of  the  whole  concern,  which  has,  in  spite  of 


ISI3-H-]     BROUGHAM'S    OPINION    OF   WHITBREAD.    l8l 

myself,  come  over  me  since  the  row  with  the  Com- 
missioners, especially  on  account  of  Erskine.  The 
blackening  of  Ellenboro'  is  not  sufficient  to  counter- 
balance this.  I  can't  help  thinking  the  omission  of 
the  questions  venial,  as  long  as  the  evidence  was  not 
published ;  and  then  the  charge  agt.  the  Comms.  was 
only  their  going  beyond  the  inquiry  assigned  to 
them,  and  recommending  a  sort  of  censure  on  an  ex 
parte  proceeding.  Which  was  wrong,  1  think  ;  but 
one  can't  help  regretting  anything  which  damages, 
not  Grcnvillc,  but  the  ivliole  Whigs.  This  should 
always  be  avoided  if  possible." 

"  Brougham,  Sunday,  6  April,  1S13. 

",  .  .  Now  on  this  question  [that  of  bringing  in  a 
declaratory  bill  regarding  the  Princess  of  Wales]  once 
for  all,  do  not  listen  to  Sam  [Whitbread].  He  has 
NO  HEAD.  Depend  upon  it  he  has  not.  He  is  good 
for  execution,  but  nothing  for  council,  except,  indeed, 
as  far  as  his  courage  and  honesty  go,  which  are 
invaluable,  but  not  of  themselves  sufficient.  The 
idea  of  the  galleries  being  shut  would  frighten  him  to 
death,  for  he  speaks  very  much  with  an  eye  to  the 
newspapers.  Now  my  belief  is  that  if  a  good  and 
popular  ground  for  shutting  them  could  be  got  (as 
this  may  be  made)  a  most  prodigious  step  would  be 
gained.  But,  it  will  be  said,  why  degrade  the  House 
in  this  way?  I  reply,  if  the  House  is  base  enough 
after  making  a  row  3  years  ago  about  its  privileges, 
when  they  were  to  be  used  against  the  people,  now 
to  yield  up  everything  like  the  privileges  which  can 
really  serve  the  people,  it  deserves  to  be  brought  into 
every  sort  of  contempt,  and  the  sooner  the  people 
quarrel  with  it,  the  better.  Perhaps  you  may  think 
my  desire  too  romantic  a  one — viz.  to  see  a  whole 
session  pass  with  shut  doors.  I  certainly  do  wish 
devoutly  to  see  it,  knowing  the  price  we  pay  for 
reading  debates  ;  but  at  present  I  am  only  speaking 
of  such  a  shutting  as  may  produce  acquiescence  in 
the  Bill,  which  will  become  necessary  should  the 
Courts  decide  against  us.  While  mentioning  Whit 
bread,  I  must  say  that  his  two  capital  blunders  in  the 
Pss.  business  certainly  don't  tend  to  raise  my  notion 


1 83  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  IX. 

of  his  judgt.  .  .  .  Pray  don't  forget  to  let  me  know 
what  the  Mountain  mean  to  do  about  the  Livery 
dinner." 

"20  April,  1813. 

".  .  .  Mrs.  P.  (a  bore  which  I  always  thought 
awaited  you,  tho'  I  have  put  it  off  as  well  as  I  could) 
insists  positively  on  your  going  there  to  dinner  as 
soon  as  you  return.  She  would  have  had  you  meet 
Mrs.  Beauclerk  there  yesterday,  but  I  said  you  were 
at  Brighton.  .  .  ." 

"York,  Wednesday,  10  May,  1810. 

"Dear  C, 

"  I  find  by  Ly.  C.  Lindsay  that  there  is  an 
idea  of  another  letter  from  the  Pss.  to  Prinnie,  and 
that  Whitbread  has  written  one.  Pray  try  to  impress 
upon  him  the  fatal  effects  of  any  more  letters.  She 
will  be  called  the  Compleat  Letterwriter  and  become 
generally  despised.  At  all  events,  let  some  time 
elapse  and  see  what  they  mean  to  do." 

"Temple,  Monday,  1813. 
"...  I  have  nothing  to  tell  you,  except  that 
Mother  P.  certainly  goes  to  the  Tea  Garden  to-morrow 
night,  to  meet  her  husband.  It  was  her  own  idea, 
but  1  highly  approve  of  it  on  his  account ;  and  as  the 
Dss.  of  York  goes,  it  is  fit  Mrs.  P.  should  go  too,  if 
it  were  only  for  5  minutes.  The  consternation  of 
Prinnie  is  wonderful.  I'll  bet  a  little  money  he  don't 
go  himself,  so  that  the  whole  thing  will  have  gone 
off  as  well  as  possible.  Young  P.  and  her  father 
have  had  frequent  rows  of  late,  but  one  pretty  serious 
one.  He  was  angry  at  her  for  flirting  with  the  D.  of 
Devonshire,  and  suspected  she  was  talking  politics. 
This  began  it.  It  signifies  nothing  how  they  go  on 
this  day  or  that — in  the  long  run,  quarrel  they  must. 
He  has  not  equality  of  temper,  or  any  other  kind  of 
sense,  to  keep  well  with  her,  and  she  has  a  spice  of 
her  mother's  spirit :  so  interfere  they  must  at  every 
turn.  ...  I  suspect  they  will  befool  the  above  duke. 
He  is  giving  in  to  it,  I  hear,  and  P.  will  turn  short- 
about,  in  all  likelihood,  after  making  him  dance  and 
dangle  about,  and  perhaps  break  with  his  friends,  and 


I8I3-I4-]  PARTISANS.  183 

put  on  his  dignified  air  on  which  he  piques  himself, 
and  then  say — 'Your  Grace  will  be  pleased  to  recollect 
the  difference  between  you  and  my  daughter.' 

"  I  may  be  wronging  the  young  man  after  all,  for  I 
am  out  of  the  way  of  hearing  anything.  Since  the 
last  time  I  saw  you,  I  have  only  been  twice  to  the 
westward  of  Charing  Cross.  Once  was  to  see  Lord 
Thanet.  He  is  quite  well  again,  and  in  high  force — 
particularly  abusive  of  Prinney,  whom  he  objects  to 
on  account  of  his  vulgarity,  and  compares  to  the 
Bourgeois  GcntiUiommc  in  Moliere — a  name  which  has 
got  about,  and  must  inevitably  annoy  P.  more  than 
even  'our  fat  friend.'  .  .  ," 

*'  Temple,  Wednesday  [18 13]. 

".  .  .  The  cry  against  Sam  [Whitbread]  is  high 
and,  like  all  base  things,  higher  since  he  left  town. 
.  .  .  The  bitterness  is  among  the  jobbers  and  under- 
strappers of  the  party,  who  wish  to  blow  up  the  coals, 
and  put  an  end  to  the  party  at  once,  for  reasons  too 
obvious.  .  .  .  Grey,  as  you  may  suppose,  partakes  of 
little  or  none  of  the  violence,  now  the  heat  is  off.  .  .  . 
Fitzpatrick's  last  words,  I  believe,  were — La  piece  est 
fuiic,  uttered  with  his  usual  cool  and  determined  tone 
to  Lord  Robert,  there  being  servants  in  the  room. 
He  had  said  immediately  before  to  Lady  Robert  (who 
was  going,  and  said  she  should  see  him  again) — '  Not 
in  this  world  ' — from  whence  your  piety  will  naturally 
derive  an  inference,  by  way  of  admission,  of  a  future 
state.  He  leaves  about  ^10,000  in  legacies.  ...  I 
thought  you  might  like  to  hear  these  particulars 
respecting  the  end  of  by  far  the  most  clever  of  the 
quiet  class  I  have  ever  seen,  and  the  most  perfect 
judgt.  of  any  class.*  .  .  ." 


Lady  Charlotte  Lindsay  to  Mr.  Brougham. 

"  Wednesday. 
"  Everything  went  off  remarkably  well  last  night. 
We  waited  at    the  D.   of  Brunswick's   till  we  heard 
that  the  Duchess  of  Y[ork]  was  at  Vauxhall ;  we  then 

*  General  Richard  Fitzpatrick  [  1747-18 13],  for  thirty-three  years 
M.P.  for  Tavistock  ;  a  most  intimate  friend  of  C.  J.  Fox, 


l84  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  IX. 

proceeded  there,  and  were  much  huzza'd  and  applauded 
by  the  crowd  at  the  door,  and  also  by  the  people  in 
the  gardens,  which  was  much  more  than  I  had  ex- 
pected, having  considered  it  always  as  the  enemies' 
quarters.  There  were  a  few  hisses  at  last,  but  very 
few  indeed.  The  Duke  of  Gloucester  escorted  the 
Pss.  round  the  walks,  and  the  Duke  of  Kent  handed 
her  out  and  took  care  of  her  to  the  Duke  of  Bruns- 
wick's house,  where  we  supped.  In  short,  nothing 
could  be  more  right  and  proper,  dull  and  fatiguing, 
than  our  last  night's  adventures.  ..." 


Lady  Holland  to  Mrs.  Creevey. 

"  Holland  House,  Wednesday. 
".  .  .  Lord  Darlington  is  to  marry  his  bonne  amie 
Mrs.  Russell,  alias  Funnereau,  this  week;*  and  his 
daughter  has  chosen  Mr.  Forester.  Neither  of  these 
alliances  are  brilliant.  Mme.  de  Stael  continues  to 
be  an  invariable  topick.  The  servants  at  assemblies 
announce  her  as  Mrs.  Stale.  Her  daughter,  the 
seduisante  Albertine,  is  very  much  relished  by  those 
who  know  her  well." 

**  Holland  House  [no  date,  1813]. 

"...  I  have  seen  few  people  and  heard  no  news. 
.  .  .  Lt.  Clifford  (the  Dss.  of  D.'s  son  f)  is  to  marry 
Lord  John  Townshend's  2nd  daughter:  Ld.  Clinton 
Miss  Poyntz.  The  report  at  Windsor  is  that  Prin- 
cess Charlotte  is  in  a  bad  state  of  health — a  fixed 
pain  in  her  side,  for  which  she  wears  a  perpetual 
blister;  and  she  is  grown  very  large  and  is  generally 
unwell.  The  Duke  of  York  was  so  tipsy  at  [illegible'] 
that  he  fell  down  and  was  blooded  immediately,  and 
whilst  the  Queen  was  delivering  her  warlike  manifesto, 
the  little  Pss.  was  making  game  and  turning  her  back 

*  They  were  married  on  27th  July.  Lord  Darlington  was  created 
Duke  of  Cleveland  in  1833. 

t  Admiral  Sir  Augustus  Clifford,  Bart.,  C.B.,  died  in  1877.  The 
4th  Duke  of  Devonshire  married  in  1748  Charlotte,  Baroness  Chfford. 
She  died  in  1754,  and  the  barony  passed  to  her  son  the  5th  Duke, 
and  from  him  to  the  6th  Duke,  at  whose  death  in  1858  it  fell  into 
abeyance  between  his  sisters  the  Countesses  of  Carlisle  and  Granville. 


I8I3-I4-]  PLOT   AND    COUNTER-PLOT.  185 

upon  her,  .  .  ,  Poor  Courtenay  has  had  a  paralytick 
stroke,  and  Nollekens  the  sculptor  is  very  ill  from 
the  same  dreadful  visitation.  Ld.  Lauderdale's  eldest 
daughter  was  8  days  in  labour  of  a  dead  child,  and 
was  not  out  of  danger  when  he  wrote." 

The  reference  in  the  following  is  to  General  Sir 
John  Murray,  who  raised  the  siege  of  Tarragona,  and 
embarked  his  troops  on  the  approach  of  Suchet,  for 
which  he  was  afterwards  tried  by  court-martial. 
Wellington's  despatch  of  3rd  July  contains  criticism 
of  Murray's  operations,  the  responsibility  for  which 
the  Opposition  sought  to  throw  upon  Wellington.* 

Hon.  H.  G.  Bennet,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Crecvcy. 

"  Chillingham,  23  July,  1813. 
"...  I  think  Wellington's  observations  about 
Murray  shameful! :  he  would  have  been  mad  to  fight 
20,000  French  with  12,000  Spaniards  and  4000  English 
and  Germans.  As  usual — Wellington  never  allows 
an  excuse,  nor  ever  enables  an  officer  to  execute  any- 
thing. He  left  Beresford  at  Albuera  in  the  same 
situation." 

"  Walton,  Thursday  night. 

".  .  .  Is  it  true  that  Leveson  has  the  credit  of 
working  the  intrigue  for  Canning?  I  was  sure,  and 
I  told  Brougham  and  Whitbread  so — that  the  visits 
of  him  and  his  wife  to  Connaught  Place  announced  an 
intrigue,  and  that  I  knew  them  too  well  to  believe 
that  any  other  motive  but  the  basest  took  either  of 
them  there.  .  .  .  Brougham  must  rejoice  at  the  escape 
of  his  client:  however  the  Canningites  are  no  strength 
to  these  Ministers,  and  I  look  forward  to  rare  fun 
next  session.  If  all  these  peerages  take  place,  I  am 
for  a  regular  attack  on  the  prostitution  of  public 
honours,  and  a  seriatim  show-up  of  all  the  new 
Ministry.  .  .  .  From  what  one  can  hear,  the  Congress 
will  be  a  pleasant  scene  for  Milord  Castlereagh.  He 
cannot  but  be  in  a  scrape ;  and  Norway,  St.  Domingo, 

*  Wellington's  Despatches,  vol.  x.  p.  509. 


1 86  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  IX, 

the  Slave  Trade,  Poland  and  Saxony,  are  rare  topics 
for  future  discussion.  Have  you  read  Brougham 
upon  Norway  in  the  last  number  of  the  Edinburgh 
Review  ?    If  not,  do  it,  as  he  is  very  good.  .  .  ." 

Henry  Brougham  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"Brougham,  Sept.  15,  1813. 
".  .  .  My  wound  is  almost  well  now,  leaving  only 
a  fine  large  mark,  like  a  slash,  on  my  head,  forehead 
and  eyelid.  ...  I  came  off  extremely  well  on  the 
whole,  as  you  would  have  allowed  had  you  seen  the 
cut,  which  was  such  as  to  send  all  the  people — Bigges, 
&c. — out  of  the  room  fainting,  except  the  surgeon  and 
Strickland,  who  showed  much  skill  in  assisting  him 
to  take  up  the  artery.  He  was  in  the  carriage  with 
me,  and  when  taken  out  was  supposed  to  be  cut  in 
pieces,  from  his  bloody  figure ;  but,  on  water  being 
applied,  the  blood  was  all  found  to  be  my  property, 
and  he  not  even  scratched.  .  .  .  Let  me,  in  expressing 
my  entire  abhorrence  of  Newcastle — its  natives,  its 
inns,  drives,  horses,  roads,  precipices,  pools,  &c.,  &c., 
say  how  skilful  a  surgeon  they  have  in  the  person  of 
Mr.  Home,  who  attended  me,  and  who  is  really  a 
wonderful  young  man.  To  be  sure  he  has  some 
practice ;  for  I  suppose  the  bodies  of  half  the  natives, 
in  whole  or  in  fragments,  pass  through  his  hands  in 
the  course  of  a  year.  To  be  out  of  Hell,  Newcastle 
certainly  is  the  damnedest  district  of  country  any- 
w^here  to  be  found.  .  .  .  Your  account  of  the  Brighton 
festivities  is  invaluable.  I  am  glad  to  be  prepared  for 
the  Jockey,*  with  whom  I  shall  certainly  take  the 
earliest  opportunity  of  beginning  the  subject,  in  order 
to  make  him  admit  before  witnesses  his  having  had 
his  journey  to  Brighton  for  his  pains,  and  thus  to 
confirm  his  hatred  of  P.f  ...  I  beg  to  remind  you 
of  my  predictions,  viz.  Wellington's  retreat  in  Novr. 
or  Deer.,  and  a  separate  peace  on  the  continent  before 
Xmas,  tho'  he  clearly  will  never  make  such  terms  now 
as  he  used  to  do  formerly.!  .  .  ." 

*  The  Duke  of  Norfolk.     See  p.  50. 

t  The  Prince  Regent. 

X  The  prediction  was  not  fulfilled.     Soult  was  driven  across  the 


1813-14.]  NAPOLEON   ABDICATES.  187 

Hon.  H.  G.  Bennet,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Crcevey. 

"  Chillingham,  24th  Sept.,  1813. 

"  I  have  been  looking  out  for  a  letter  from  you  to 
tell  me  all  the  news  of  the  south,  and  your  fetes  at  the 
Pavilion,  at  which  I  conclude  you  were,  being  in  such 
favour  with  our  magnanimous  Regent!  In  the  ist 
place — is  it  true  that  Parliament  is  to  be  assembled 
on  the  4th  of  November?  If  so,  I  am  in  despair,  as  in 
town  I  cannot  be,  and  to  be  out  of  it  will  drive  me 
wild.  Money,  I  conclude,  is  the  want,  and  as  I  feel 
disposed  to  have  a  fight  for  every  shilling,  and  to  state 
a  grievance  for  each  vote  in  supply,  I  am  miserable  at 
the  chance  of  the  campaign  opening  without  me.  To 
be  sure,  affairs  look  better  on  the  Continent,  and  the 
capture  of  St.  Sebastian  is  of  the  greatest  importance 
to  the  safety  of  our  army.  We  grumblers  can  have 
nothing  to  say,  but  the  question  of  expence  nothing 
can  stave  off.  .  .  .  To-day  Ld.  Grey  was  to  have  been 
in  the  chair  at  the  Fox  dinner  at  Newcastle  :  this  kept 
me  from  the  dinner,  as  Ld.  Grey  and  the  principles  of 
Mr.  Fox  have  long  ago  parted  company.  I  looked 
on  the  meeting  as  a  beat  up  for  political  friends — 
as  a  sort  of  levee  where  I  shall  always  be  the  worst 
attender.  .  .  ." 

The  year  1814  was  one  of  great  excitement,  political 
and  social,  in  London.  In  early  spring  the  Russian, 
Prussian,  and  Austrian  armies  entered  France,  the 
British  army  having  been  already  established  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Pyrenees  since  the  previous  autumn. 
The  Allies  entered  Paris  on  31st  March;  a  few  days 
later  Napoleon  abdicated  and  was  allowed  to  retire  to 
Elba;  Louis  XVIII,  was  restored  to  the  throne  of 
France,  and  visited  London  in  May,  to  be  followed  in 
June  by  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  the  King  of  Prussia, 

Pyrenees  on  2nd  August;  San  Sebastian  fell  on  31st;  the  battle  of 
the  Nivellc  was  fought  on  loth  November  ;  Wellington  went  into  winter 
quarters  early  in  December  on  French  soil ;  Napoleon  abdicated  on 
6th  April,  18 14. 


1 88  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  IX. 

and  other  royalties.  The  proclamation  of  peace  on 
6th  May  marked  the  beginning  of  a  series  oi  fetes  and 
rejoicings,  which  continued  at  intervals  all  through  the 
summer.  Unfortunately,  they  served  to  bring  into 
harsher  relief  than  before  the  scandalous  relations  be- 
tween the  Prince  Regent  and  the  Princess  of  Wales. 
The  Queen  having  commanded  two  drawing-rooms 
to  be  held  in  June  in  honour  of  the  foreign  royalties, 
the  Princess  intimated  her  intention  to  appear  at  one 
of  them ;  whereupon  the  Queen  wrote  to  the  Princess, 
informing  her  that  she  had  received  a  communi- 
cation from  her  son,  the  Prince  Regent,  stating  that 
it  was  necessary  he  should  be  present  at  her  court, 
and  that  he  desired  it  to  be  understood,  for  reasons  of 
which  he  alone  could  be  the  judge,  that  it  was  his 
"fixed  and  unalterable  determination  not  to  meet  the 
Princess  of  Wales  upon  any  occasion,  either  public 
or  private." 

One  hundred  years  have  not  passed  since  these 
events,  yet  what  a  distance  have  we  travelled  in  the 
development  of  popular  judgment !  It  would  not  be 
possible  for  any  Prince  in  these  days  to  trample  thus 
upon  public  opinion,  and  to  treat  in  this  tyrannical 
manner  a  wife  whom  it  had  been  proved  impossible 
to  convict  of  infidelity.  The  offence  thus  offered  to 
public  morality  and  self-respect  goes  far  to  account 
for  the  profound  apprehensions  for  the  monarchy 
which  men  of  all  parties  began  to  entertain  in  view 
of  the  great  increase  in  popular  power  which  parlia- 
mentary reform,  not  to  be  staved  off  much  longer, 
must  necessarily  entail. 


1813-14.]  TALES    OF   THE   TOWN.  189 

Lady  Holland  to  Mrs.  Crcevey  {at  Brightoii]. 

"  Holland  House,  Saty. 

".  .  .  The  great  wonder  of  the  time  is  Mme.  de 
Stael.  She  is  surrounded  by  all  the  curious,  and 
every  sentence  she  utters  is  caught  and  repeated  with 
various  commentaries.  Her  first  appearance  was  at 
Ly.  Jersey's,  where  Lady  Hertford  also  was,  and 
looked  most  scornfully  at  her,  pretending  her  deter- 
mination not  to  receive  her  as  she  was  an  atheist !  and 
immoral  woman.  This  harsh  resolve  was  mitigated 
by  an  observation  very  agreeable  to  the  observer — 
that  her  personal  charms  have  greatly  improved  within 
the  last  25  years.  She  (Mme.  de  Stael)  is  violent 
against  the  Emperor,  who,  she  says,  is  not  a, 'man — 
'ce  n'est  point  un  homme,  mais  un  systeme ' — an  In- 
carnation of  the  Revolution.  Women  he  considers  as 
only  useful  'pour  produire  les  conscrits;'  otherwise 
'c'est  une  classe  qu'il  voudroit  supprimer.'  She  is 
much  less  ugly  than  I  expected  ;  her  eyes  are  fine, 
and  her  hand  and  arm  very  handsome.  She  was 
fiummering  Sheridan  upon  the  excellence  of  his  heart 
and  moral  principles,  and  he  in  return  upon  her 
beauty  and  grace.  She  is  to  live  in  Manchester  Street, 
and  go  occasionally  to  breathe  the  country  air  at 
Richmond  Inn. 

"  During  the  debate  on  the  Swedish  treaty,  Mr. 
Ward*  came  into  the  Coffee  House,  assigning  for  his 
reason  that  he  could  not  bear  to  hear  Ld.  Castlereagh 
abuse  his  Master;  upon  which  Jekyll  said — 'Pray, 
Ward,  did  yr.  last  Master  give  you  a  character,  or  did 
this  one  take  you  without?'  Those  present  describe 
Ward  as  being  overwhelmed,  for,  with  all  his  talent, 
he  is  not  ready  at  repartee,  tho'  no  doubt  by  this  time 
he  has  some  neat  epigrams  upon  the  occasion.  Lady 
Jane  has  had  a  return  of  spitting  of  blood,  and  she 
was  blooded  twice  last  week;  the  pain  in  her  breast 
is  very  troublesome,  and  I  much  fear  she  is  fast  ap- 
proaching to  an  untimely  close  of  her  innocent  and 
valuable  life.f    There  are  reports,  but  I  believe  idle 

*  Afterwards  Lord  Dudley. 

t  It  had  been  strange  if  life  had  long  endured  in  a  patient  treated 
for  phthisis  by  blood-letting  ! 


I90  THE  CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  IX. 

ones,  of  marriages  between  Lady  Mildmay  and  Ld. 
Folkestone,  and  Sir  Harry  [Mildmay]  and  Miss  Thayer. 
Ld.  H.  Beauclerk  is  certainly  to  marry  Miss  Dillon. 
The  Greys  .  .  .  are  not  invited  to  the  fetes  at  C[arlton] 
House,  nor  any  more  of  the  Opposition  than  usual.  .  .  .' 

Lord  Folkestone  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"April  5,  1814. 

".  .  .  .  If  you  should  happen  to  hear  in  the  world 
that  I  am  going  to  be  married  to  Mildmay's  sister,  you 
need  not  put  yourself  to  the  trouble  to  deny  it.  I 
have  not  any  pretensions  to  suppose  that  Mrs.  Taylor 
interests  herself  enough  about  me  to  presume  to  write 
to  her,  but  I  wish  you  would  tell  her  from  me  that  I 
should  have  been  glad  to  have  had  an  opportunity  of 
informing  her  in  person  how  immutable  with  me  is 
the  power  of  black  eyes.  *  .  .  ." 

Thomas  Sheridan^  to  Samuel  VVhitbread,  M.P. 

[April,  1 8 14.] 

"  Bonaparte  has  signed  his  resignation — Bourbons 
proclaimed— Victor,  Ney,  Marmont,  Abbe  Sieyes, 
Caulincourt,  &c.,  &c.,  &c.,  have  sign'd.  The  Emperor 
has  a  pension  of  200,000  per  ann. :  and  a  retreat  in  the 
Isle  of  Elba.  .  .  .  There  are  to  be  immense  rejoicings 
on  Monday — white  cockades  and  tremendous  illumi- 
nation. Carlton  House  to  blaze  with  fleurs  de  lis,  &c. 
The  royal  yatch  is  ordered  to  take  the  King  (Louis) 
—the  Admiral  of  the  Fleet  the  Duke  of  Clarence  to 
command  her— all  true,  honor  bright— I  am  just  come 
from  the  Prince. 

"Th.  S." 

Samuel  Whitbread,  M.P.,  to  Thomas  Sheridan. 

"Cardington,  April  10,  1814. 

''My  dear  Sheridan, 

"  I  thank  you  for  your  letter,  and  I  daresay 
you  will  not  be  surprized  when  I  tell  you  that  the 

*  The  marriage  took  place  24th  May,  1814.  Miss  Mildmay  was 
Lord  Folkestone's  second  wife,  and  great-grandmother  of  the  present 
Lord  Radnor. 

t  Son  of  R.  B.  Sheridan. 


i8i3-r4-]  THE   PEACE.  191 

Circumstances  which  have  led  to,  and  attend  upon, 
this  great  Event,  are  such  as  to  enable  me  to  contem- 
plate it  with  entire  satisfaction. 

"  A  Limited  Monarchy  in  France,  with  Religious 
Liberty,  a  Free  Press  and  Legislative  Bodies  such  as 
have  been  stipulated  for  before  the  Recognition  of  the 
Bourbons,  leave  their  Restoration  without  the  possi- 
bility of  Regret  in  the  Mind  of  any  Man  who  is  a 
Lover  of  Liberty  and  a  friend  to  his  kind.  Paris  safe, 
Bonaparte  suffered  to  depart,  after  the  experiment 
had  been  fully  tried  of  effecting  a  Peace  with  him, 
upon  terms  such  as  he  was  mad  to  reject — 'Tis  more 
than  I  dared  to  hope ! 

''Then  the  great  Example  set  of  the  Fidelity  of  all 
His  Generals,  and  of  the  Armies  they  commanded,  up 
to  the  very  Moment  that  He  himself  gave  all  up  for 
lost  and  opened  his  own  Eyes  to  the  consequences  of 
His  own  desperate  Folly,  must  surely  have  its  effect 
on  the  World,  and  redeems  many  of  the  Treacheries 
Men  have  committed  against  their  Leaders.  I  confess 
it  pleases  me  beyond  measure.  .  .  .  God  grant  us  a 
long  and  glorious  Peace. 

"  If  the  Regent  had  but  a  true  friend  to  tell  him 
that  he  has  only  two  things  to  do  at  home  to  complete 
the  Happiness  and  Splendour  of  this  Epoch!*  I  hear 
He  says  I  am  the  worst  Man  God  Almight}''  ever 
formed,  except  Bonaparte !  but  I  could  tell  him  how 
to  be  as  justly  popular  as  Alexander  himself  t  .  .  • 
No  Murders,  No  Torture,  No  Conflagration — how  will 
the  pretty  \Vomen  of  London  bear  it?" 

Hon.  H.  G.  Bennet,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"Brooks's,  1 8 14. 

"  Dear  C, 

"Nothing  new.  The  Boneys  &  Co.  are 
understood  to  have  left  Fontainbleau  on  the  road  to 
Italy.  What  a  fall !  and  what  a  triumph  for  sound 
doctrines  of  freedom !     The  Coles  X  lool^  very  low. 

*  One  was  the  rehabilitation  of  the  Princess  of  Wales,  the  other, 
probably,  Roman  Catholic  Emancipation. 

The  Emperor  Alexander  I.  of  Russia,  at  that  time  in  high  favour 
with  the  English  Whigs. 

X  Tiemey,  Abercromby,  «S:c. 


192  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  IX. 

Their  chance  of  office  is  at  lOO  per  cent,  discount,  and 
the  Holland  Housians  are  in  a  sad  quandary.  Our 
dinner  was  good  and  well  managed,  and  a  good  spice 
of  Whiggism.  .  .  .  The  Duke  of  Sussex  talked  very 
sad  stuff:  his  last  feat  was  the  following  toast — 
'  Respectability  to  the  Crown,  durability  to  the  Con- 
stitution and  independence  to  the  People ! '  He 
talked  of  the  Stuarts  and  made  an  odd  allusion  to 
their  fate  and  the  Bourbons.  The  King  of  France  is 
to  make  his  palace  at  Grillons.  He  comes  to-morrow. 
...   It  is  pleasing  to  see  so  many  happy  faces." 


Henry  BroiigJimn  to  Mr.  Crcevey. 

"Temple,  1S14. 

"  Dear  C, 

"I  write  to  congratulate  you  on  this  most 
speedy  and  compleat,  as  well  as  favorable  termination 
of  the  Revolution.  I  pass  over  the  reasons  for  ap- 
proving of  it  as  regards  France.  These  are  many — 
but  I  look  chiefly  to  England.  We  have  been  work- 
ing day  and  night  (and  seldom  succeeding)  to  knock 
off  a  miserable  ;^  10,000  or  ;^20,ooo  a  year  from  the 
patronage  of  the  Crown.  This  event  cuts  down  50 
or  60  millions  at  once.  If  we  had  made  peace  with 
Bpte.,  Prinney  would  have  been  bitterly  annoyed,  the 
aristocrats  humbled,  the  ministers  (a  good,  quiet, 
easily-beaten  set  of  blockheads)  turned  out,  and  a 
much  worse  and  stronger  set  of  men  put  in  their 
places  ;  but  who  could  have  looked  to  any  real  dimi- 
nution of  Army,  Navy  and  expenditure?  It  would 
have  been  impossible.  Noii\  there  is  not  a  pretence 
for  keeping  these  sources  of  patronage  open.  Be- 
sides— the  gag  is  gone,  which  used  to  stop  our 
mouths  as  often  as  any  reform  was  mentioned — 
*  Revolution' first,  and  then  'Invasion.'  These  cues 
are  gone.  It  really  appears  to  me  that  the  game  is 
in  the  hands  of  the  Opposition.  Ever}''  charge 
will  now  breed  more  and  more  of  discontent.  The 
dismissal  of  officers  and  other  war  functionaries  will 
throw  thousands  out  of  employ,  who  will  sooner  or 
later  ferment  and  turn  to  vinegar.  All  this  will  tell 
agst.  Govt,  and  the  benefits  of  the  peace     The  relief 


I8I3-I4-]    BROUGHAM  WITHOUT  A  SEAT.       I93 

from  taxes,  &c.,  will  never  be  able  to  tell  much  for 
them. 

"One  should  think  these  things  evident  enough, 
and  yet  the  Cole  school,  and  Holland  House  above 
all,  are  in  perfect  despair.  I  am,  however,  glad  to 
find  Grey  as  right  and  factious  as  can  be.  .  .  .  Thanet 
is  exactly  in  the  same  spirit,  tho'  he  expects  nothing 
from  the /oily  and  moderation  of  our  friends  and  their 
fear  of  annoying  Prinnie.  By  the  way,  Ld.  Grey 
dines  with  Mother  P.  on  Wednesday  next  to  meet  the 
D.  of  Glo'ster,  to  the  no  small  annoyance  of  the  Coles. 
.  .  .  Pray  don't  forget  that  a  Govt,  is  not  supported  a 
hundredth  part  so  much  by  the  constant,  uniform, 
quiet  prosperity  of  the  country,  as  by  these  damned 
spurts  which  Pitt  used  to  have  just  in  the  nick  of 
time,  and  latterly  by  the  almost  daily  honi  and  gun 
under  which  we  have  been  living." 

"Lancaster,  1814. 

".  .  .  As  for  a  seat  in  Parlt.  generally,  I  should  feel 
that  the  use  of  it  is  nearly  gone  if  the  peace  is  made 
and  discussed.  Allow  me  just  to  observe  in  passing 
(a  subject  I  don't  think  I  have  ever  alluded  to  before) 
the  great  use  of  Whig  boro's  ;  for,  without  any  ex- 
travagant pretensions,  I  can't  help  thinking  it  a  little 
strange  that  my  being  left  out  permanently  is,  to  all 
appearance,  now  a  settled  matter.  This  is  the  more 
odd,  because  Grey  is  so  decidedly  anxious  for  my 
coming  in.  Were  I,  by  any  chance,  once  again  in 
that  place,  I  certainly  have  some  little  arrears  to  settle 
with  more  folks  than  one." 


Samuel  Wliitbrcad,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Crccvcy. 

"  Dover  St.,  June  4,  1S14. 

".  .  .  I  have  just  received  a  petition  from  Mrs. 
Mary  Anne  Clarke,  complaining  of  cruelty  and  par- 
tiality in  her  mode  of  confinement,  and  stating  various 
instances  where  indulgences  have  been  obtained  for 
money.  If  I  do  not  hear  from  you  that  you  wish  me 
to  delay  presenting  it  that  you  may  be  present,  I 
intend  to  present  it  on  Monday.  We  reckon  your 
letter  received  yesterday  to  be  quite  provincial  in  its 


194  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  IX. 

Politicks,  and  even  the  House  of  Commons — all  but 
Wynne — seem  to  think  it  a  case  that  in  some  shape 
they  must  interfere,  if  nothing  shall  be  done  to  set 
the  matter  right  out  of  doors.  .  .  ." 

The  correspondence  between  the  Queen,  the 
Prince  Regent,  and  the  Princess  of  Wales  having 
been  sent  to  the  Speaker,  was  communicated  by  him 
to  the  House  of  Commons,  whereupon  arose  debate. 

Henry  Brougham  to  Mr.  Crccvey. 

"Temple,  Monday,  [June,  1814]. 
"Dear  C, 

"Just  as  I  was  going  to  begin  a  letter  to  you, 
entered  old  Hargravc,  as  mad  as  Bedlam,  and  I  have 
been  so  completely  bored  to  death  by  him  that  I  can 
scarcely  write  at  all.  .  .  .  The  Doctor  on  Saturday 
evening  gave  notice  of  the  letter  being  delivered  to 
P.*  on  Friday,  but  I  made  him  again  apply  yesterday 
to  know  if  there  was  any  answer,  and  the  Dr.  said  he 
had  not  received  P.'s  commands  to  make  any  answer 
to  it.  All  being  safe  and  right,  you  see  it  is  fired  off, 
and  I  may  add  that  I  was  finally  decided  in  favour  of 
publishing  to-day  by  the  apprehension  of  Alexr.,  &c.,t 
coming  in  a  day  or  two,  and  taking  off  the  attention 
of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bull.J  I  have,  moreover,  made  Mrs. 
P.  §  go  to  the  opera  to-morrow  evening,  but  without 
any  row,  merely  to  show  she  does  not  skulk.  If  there 
is  a  good  reception,  so  much  the  better." 

Hon.  H.  G.  Bcnnet,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Crecvcy. 

"  Brooks's,  Saturday. 

".  .  .  The  Kings  dine  with  Liverpool  to-day — 
Prinny  to-morrow,  and  with  Ld.  Stafford  on  Monday ; 
a  review  on  Tuesday  and  I  believe  to  Oxford  after- 
wards. Alexander  grumbles  at  the  long  dinners  of 
the  Regent's.  I  like  the  Prussians  very  much ;  they 
are  the  best." 

*  The  Prince  of  Wales. 

t  The  Emperor  of  Russia  and  other  foreign  royalties. 

i  The  British  Public.  §  The  Princess  of  Wales, 


1S13-14.]  THE   EMPEROR   OF   RUSSIA.  195 

Samuel  Wlutbread,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Crcevey. 

"June  II,  1814. 

".  .  .  The  Emperor  [of  Russia]  has  as  yet  returned 
no  answer  nor  returned  any  civility  to  the  Pss.'s 
message  and  letter  by  St.  Leger.  T/icy  [the  Princess 
of  Wales,  &c.]  go  to  the  Opera  to  night,  and  if  you 
were  here  she  would  be  sure  to  be  well  received. 
Why  the  Devil  are  you  not  here  ?  Brougham  will,  I 
suppose,  certainly  stand  for  Westminster,  which  will 
be  favourable  to  him  in  the  Cry  that  will  be  raised  for 
him.  You  must  come  and  stop  as  long  as  you  are 
wanted.  The  Pss.  shall  not  compromise  anything. 
She  is  sadly  low,  poor  Body,  and  no  wonder.  What 
a  fellow  Prinny  is  ! " 

Brougham  entertained  the  idea  of  standing  for  the 
vacancy  in  Westminster,  but  Sheridan  was  already 
in  the  field. 

Henry  Brougham  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"Temple,  29  June,  18 14. 

"  Dear  C, 

"As  you  may  be  amused  to  hear  the  infinite 
follies  of  mankind,  I  write  to  say  that  the  Whigs  have 
just  discovered  Old  Sherry  to  be  '  an  old  and  valued 
friend  and  an  ancient  adherent  of  Fox.'  They  there- 
fore support  him.  To  be  sure,  he  has  ratted  and  left 
them — he  kept  them  out  of  office  twice — and  he  now 
openly  stands  on  Yarmouth's  influence  and  C[arlton] 
House,  and  Ld.  Liverpool  is  supporting  him !  .  .  ." 

Mr.  Crcevey  to  Mrs.  Creevey. 

"  14  June,  1S14. 

".  .  .  The  Emperor  of  Russia  sent  for  Lord  Grey, 
Lord  Grenville,  Lord  Holland,  Lord  Lansdowne  and 
Lord  Erskine,  and  had  long  conversations  with  all  of 
them.  Lord  Grey  represents  him  as  having  very 
good  opinions  upon  all  subjects,  but  quite  royal  in 
having  all  the  talk  to  himself,  and  of  vulgar  manners. 
He  says  the  Emperor  was  much  indebted  to  his  sister 


196  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  IX. 

the  Dutchess  of  Oldenburg  for  keeping  him  in  the 
course  by  her  judicious  interposition  and  observa- 
tions. In  truth'he  thinks  him  a  vain,  silly  fellow,  and 
this  opinion  is  much  confirmed  by  what  the  Austrian 
who  is  in  London  now,  and  who  went  with  Buona- 
parte to  Elba,  states  to  be  Buonaparte's  opinion  as 
he  (the  Austrian)  heard  him  deliver  it.  It  seems 
there  is  no  subject  more  dealt  in  by  Buonaparte  than 
criticism  upon  people.     He  said  to  this  Austrian  : — 

" '  Now  I'll  tell  you  the  difference  between  the 
Emperor  of  Russia  and  the  King  of  Prussia.  The 
Emperor  thinks  himself  a  very  clever  fellow,  and  he 
is  a  damned  fool ;  whereas  the  King  of  Prussia  thinks 
meanly  of  his  own  talents,  and  he  is  a  very  sensible 
man.' 

"  Grey,  Holland,  &c.,  &c.,  agree  in  their  opinion 
of  Buonaparte,  in  that  Buonaparte  seems  the  most 
popular  person  possible  with  all  parties,  both 
foreigners  and  our  own  grandees.  Blucher  is  a  very 
nice  old  man,  and  so  like  your  old  friend  Lord  Grey  * 
that  Lady  Elizabeth  Whitbread  cried  when  she  met 
him  at  Lady  Jersey's.  Platoff  is  so  cursedly  pro- 
voked at  the  fuss  made  with  him  that  he  won't  accept 
an  invitation  to  go  out.  To  be  sure,  as  Russ.  is  the 
only  language  he  speaks,  I  don't  much  wonder  at  his 
resolution.  They  are  all  sick  to  death  of  the  way 
they  are  followed  about,  and,  above  all,  by  the  long 
dinners.  The  King  of  Prussia  is  as  sulky  as  a  bear, 
and  scarcely  returns  the  civilities  of  the  populace. 

"  Prinny  is  exactly  in  the  state  one  would  wish  ; 
he  lives  only  by  protection  of  his  visitors.  If  he  is 
caught  alone,  nothing  can  equal  the  execrations  of  the 
people  who  recognise  him.  SJw,  the  Princess,  on  the 
contrary,  carries  everything  before  her,  and  had  it  not 
been  for  an  accident  in  her  coming  into  the  opera  on 
Saturday  night,  whilst  the  applause  of  the  Emperor 
and  King  was  going  on,  by  which  means  she  got  no 
distinct  and  separate  applause,  tho'  certainly  a  great 
deal  of  what  was  going  on  was  directed  to  her.  By 
the  bye,  I  called  on  her  this  morning,  and  saw  very 
different  names  in  her  calling  book  from  what  I  had 
ever  seen  before.     Lord  Rivers  was  the  first   name, 

*  The  1st  Earl  Grev. 


1813-T4.I      PRINCESS   CHARLOTTE   OF   WALES.  197 

Lady  Burghersh  the  second,  and  so  on,  which,  you 
know,  is  capital.  All  agree  that  Prinny  will  die  or  go 
mad.  He  is  worn  out  with  fuss,  fatigue  and  rage. 
He  came  to  Lady  Salisbury  on  Sunday  from  his  own 
dinner  beastly  drunk,  whilst  her  guests  were  all  per- 
fectly sober.  It  is  reckoned  very  disgraceful  in  Russia 
for  the  higher  orders  to  be  drunk.  He  already. abuses 
the  Emperor  lustily,  and  his  (the  Emperor's)  walzing 
with  Lady  Jersey  last  night  at  Lady  Cholmondeley's 
would  not  mend  his  temper,  and  in  truth  he  only 
stayed  five  minutes,  and  went  off  sulky  as  a  bear, 
whilst  everybody  else  stayed  and  supped  and  were 
as  merry  as  could  be." 

"June  21,  1814. 

"  Well,  my  pretty,  I  hope  you  admired  our  little 
brush  last  night  in  the  presence  of  all  the  foreign 
grandees  except  the  Emperor.*  It  was  really  very 
capitally  got  up,  and  3^ou  never  S3.\v  poor  devils  look 
so  distressed  as  those  on  the  Treasury  •  Bench.  It 
was  a  scene  well  calculated  to  make  the  foreign 
potentates  stare  as  they  did,  and  the  little  Princes  of 
Prussia  laugh  as  they  did.  .  .  .  We  have  now,  how- 
ever, a  new  game  for  Master  Prinny,  which  must 
begin  to  morrow.  Whitbread  has  formal  authority 
from  young  Prinny  f  to  state  that  the  marriage  is 
broken  off,  and  that  the  reasons  are — first,  her 
attachment  to  this  country  which  she  cannot  and 
will  not  leave ;  and,  above  all,  her  attachment  to  her 
mother,  whom  in  her  present  distressed  situation  she 
likewise  cannot  leave. 

"This  is,  in  short,  her  letter  to  the  Prince  of 
Orange  in  taking  leave  of  him,  and  a  copy  of  this 
letter  is  in  Whitbread's  possession.  What  think  you 
of  the  effect  of  this  upon  the  British  publick? 

"  Since  writing  the  last  sentence  Whitbread  has 
shown  me  Princess  Charlotte's  letter  to  the  Prince  of 
Orange.     By  God  !  it  is  capital.     And  now  what  do 

*  The  "  brush  "  was  that,  knowing  the  foreign  potentates  were  to 
be  in  the  Gallery  of  the  House  of  Commons,  Sir  M.  Ridley  was  put  up 
by  the  Opposition  to  move  a  resolution  respecting  the,  marriage  of 
Princess  Charlotte  of  Wales  to  the  Prince  of  Orange. 

tThe  Prince  Regent's  daughter,  Princess  Charlotte  of  Wales. 


198  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.  [Ch.  IX. 

you  suppose  has  produced  this  sudden  attachment  to 
her  mother?  It  arises  from  the  profound  resources 
of  old  Brougham,  and  is,  in  truth,  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  movements  in  his  campaign.  He  tells  me 
he  has  had  direct  intercourse  with  the  young  one  ; 
that  he  has  impressed  upon  her  this  fact  that,  if  her 
mother  goes  away  from  England,  as  she  is  always 
threatening  to  do  from  her  ill  usage  in  the  country, 
that  then  a  divorce  will  inevitably  take  place,  a  second 
marriage  follow,  and  thus  the  young  Princess's  title 
to  the  throne  be  gone.  This  has  had  an  effect  upon 
the  young  one  almost  magical." 

Although  there  is  no  reference  in  these  papers  to 
the  scene  in  the  House  of  Commons  when  the  Duke 
of  Wellington  was  admitted  to  receive  the  thanks 
of  the  House,  still  it  is  agreeable  to  remark  that, 
while  Mr.  Whitbread  and  his  party  had  not  scrupled 
to  avail  themselves  of  the  difficulties  of  the  cam- 
paign in  the  Peninsula  as  the  means  of  bringing 
reproach  upon  the  Government  and  their  officers  in 
the  field,  it  was  Mr.  Whitbread  who  now  objected 
that  the  grant  to  the  Duke  moved  by  the  Speaker, 
viz.  ^10,000  a  year,  commutable  for  ^^300, 000,  was  too 
small. 

Three  days  later  a  debate,  in  which  Mr.  Whit- 
bread took  a  leading  part,  arose  upon  Lord  Castle- 
reagh's  motion  to  increase  the  allowance  to  the 
Princess  of  Wales  from  ^^3 5,000  to  ;^5o,ooo  a  year. 
This  was  moved  and  carried  in  the  earnest  hope  that 
the  Princess  would  carry  out  her  wish  to  go  to  the 
Continent,  and  that  she  would  stay  there.  The 
removal  of  this  rock  of  offence  to  the  Ministry  was 
by  no  means  to  the  liking  of  the  Opposition. 


I8I3-I4-]  THE   PRINCESS    OF   WALES.  199 

Samuel  Whitbread,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Crccvey. 

"Dover  St.,  July  i,  1814. 

"  My  dear  Creevey, 

"You  will  have  seen  by  the  papers  that 
Castlereagh  laid  upon  the  Table  on  Wednesday 
papers  relating  to  the  Princess  of  Wales's  pecuniary 
situation,  which  were  ordered  to  be  referred  to  a 
Committee  of  the  whole  House  on  Monday  next.  In 
the  evening  of  Wednesday  I  received  at  the  House  of 
Commons  a  note  from  Lady  C.  Campbell  No,  i, 
enclosing  the  note  from  C[astlereagh]  No,  2,  to  which 
I  replied,  *I  would  see  Brougham  in  the  evening  and 
we  would  communicate  further,'  I  did  see  Brougham 
after  the  debate,  at  Michael  Taylor's,  and  we  agreed 
that  the  offer  was  to  be  refused,  and  that  the  mode  of 
refusal  should  be  by  letter  to  the  Speaker. 

"  Yesterday  morning  before  10  o'clock  I  had  sent 
a  note  to  Lady  C.  Campbell  to  say  'that  I  had  seen 
Brougham,  that  we  had  agreed  upon  the  mode  of 
proceeding  respecting  tJiis  insidious  offer  made  in  so 
iinJiandsome  a  iiiamier,  and  that  I  would  be  at  Con- 
naught  House  at  two  o'clock,  to  submit  the  result  of 
our  counsel,  in  the  shape  of  a  letter  to  the  Speaker.' 
At  two  o'clock  I  was  preparing  to  set  out  to  recom- 
mend the  letter  No,  3,  which  is  the  production  of 
Brougham,  when  to  my  infinite  surprise  I  received 
from  the  Princess  the  Papers  Nos,  4  and  5,  to  which  I 
replied  by  the  Note,  No,  6,  I  then  went  and  found 
Brougham  in  Westminster  Hall,  to  whom  I  communi- 
cated the  contents.  His  convulsions  in  consequence 
were  very  strong,  I  then  went  to  Lady  C,  Lindsay 
who  burst  into  tears  upon  perusing  the  papers.  I 
then  called  upon  St,  Leger,  who  was  thunderstruck 
and  mortified  to  the  greatest  degree,  but  he  entreated 
me  to  call  upon  the  Princess ;  which  I  did,  and 
found  her  and  Lady  C.  Campbell  together.  She 
received  me  very  civilly,  and  told  me  she  saw  I  dis- 
approved of  what  she  had  done.  With  the  proper 
prefaces  and  in  the  mildest  tone,  I  told  her  that  I  did 
exceedingly  disapprove  it ;  and  that  after  her  commu- 
nication of  the  night  before,  I  had  reason  to  complain 
of  her  having  sent  an  answer  without  having  pre- 
viously shown  it  to  me  or  Brougham,  and  that  I  was 


200  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  IX. 

much  chagrined  and  disappointed  at  what  she  had 
done :  that  the  crisis  had  just  arrived,  which  would 
have  put  her  in  possession  of  all  she  wanted;  and 
that  I  firmly  believed  her  income  would  have  followed 
on  her  own  terms  ;  but  that  the  last  paragraph  of  her 
letter  appeared  to  me  to  have  surrendered  everything, 
and  her  words  would  be  retorted  upon  her  whenever 
she  wished  to  assert  the  rights  of  her  station.  She 
said  she  meant  to  relinquish  nothing,  and  particularly 
that  she  meant  to  go  to  St.  Paul's  (for  which  measures 
had  been  taken).  I  told  her  I  thought  'it  might 
impair  the  tranquillity  of  the  mind  of  the  Prince 
Regent '  if  she  were  present,  and  she  would  be  told 
so.  We  parted  by  my  wishing  her  success,  and  that 
all  might  answer  her  expectation. 

"You  may  suppose  the  effect  the  communication 
of  these  matters  had  upon  Sefton,  Tierney,  Jersey, 
&c.  Tierney  had  been  in  counsel  with  us,  and  was 
quite  decided.  In  the  evening  I  received  the  en- 
closed 7,  8  and  9,  to  which  I  shall  only  answer  that 
when  called  upon  I  will  advise,  but  it  shall  be  on  my 
own  terms." 


H.R.H.  the  Princess  of  Wales  to  Samuel 
Whitbread,  M.P. 

\_Note  No.  5,  referred  to  in  above  letter^ 

"The  Princess  of  Wales  informs  Mr.  Whitbread 
that  she  has  been  extremely  surprised  at  the  contents 
of  his  note.  The  Princess  does  not  view  the  offer 
made  to  her  by  the  Crown,  through  Lord  Castlereagh, 
in  the  light  in  which  Mr.  Whitbread  views  it.  As  no 
conditions  derogatory  to  Her  as  Princess,  or  to  her 
Honor  as  a  female,  have  been  annexed  to  the  fulfill- 
ment of  her  rights.  The  Princess  of  Wales  can  have 
no  scruple,  therefore,  whatever,  in  accepting  the 
proposal  which  has  been  made  to  her,  and  the 
Princess  cannot  expect  anything  very  respectful  or 
attentive  in  the  manner  of  the  offer,  coming  from 
persons  who  have  been  at  variance  with  her  so  many 
years.  Considering  this  as  an  act  of  justice,  and  not 
an  act  of  grace,  she  has  accepted  it  accordingly  and 


1S13-14]         THROWS    OVER    HER   ADVISERS.  20I 

incloses  a  copy  of  her  letter  to  Ld.  Castlereagh  for 
Mr.  Whitbread's  perusal.  A  refusal  to  the  Crown 
would  have  made  her  extremely  unpopular.  The 
Princess  is,  besides,  wear}'  of  all  the  trouble  she  has 
endured  herself,  and  been  the  occasion  to  her  friends, 
and  takes  the  whole  blame  upon  herself  by  exhono- 
rating  Mr,  Whitbread  from  all  responsibility  what- 
ever as  to  the  issue  of  the  event.  The  Princess  of 
Wales  shall  never  forget  the  true  and  sincere  interest 
which  Mr.  Whitbread  has  on  all  occasions  evinced 
towards  her,  but  there  are  moments  in  life  when 
every  individual  is  called  upon  to  act  for  themselves." 


Samuel  Whitbread,  M.P.,  to  H.R.H.  the  Princess  of 

Wales. 

[/Vc/tf  No.  6  re/erred  to  in  the  above  letter.] 

"  Dover  St.,  June  30,  1814. 
"Mr.  Whitbread  has  the  honour  to  acknowledge 
the  receipt  of  the  note  of  your  Royal  Highness, 
enclosing  the  Copy  of  Your  Royal  Highness's  answer 
to  Lord  Castlereagh,  and  to  present  his  most  humble 
duty  to  your  Royal  Highness." 

Henry  Brougham  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"Temple,  ist  July,  18 14. 

"  Dear  C, 

"  I  suppose  you  have  heard  of  Mother  P. 
bungling  the  thing  so  compleatly — snapping  eagerly 
at  the  cash,  and  concluding  with  a  civil  observation 
about  unwillingness  to  'impair  the  Regent's  tran- 
quillity !!'  &c.  This  was  all  done  on  the  spot  and  in 
a  moment,  and  communicated  to  Sam  and  me  next 
day,  'that  we  might  be  clear  of  all  blame  in  advising 
it.'  We  are  of  course  fully  justified  in  giving  her  up. 
I  had  written  a  proper  letter  to  the  Speaker,  refusing, 
which  would  only  have  made  the  House  certain  to 
give  it  [the  grant  to  the  Princess].  The  intelligence 
came  before  my  letter  reached  her. 

"  However,  tho'  she  deserves  death,  yet  we  must 
not  abandon  her,  in  case  P.  gets  a  victory  after  all. 


202  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  IX. 

therefore  I  have  made  her  send  St,  Leger  to  the  Bp. 
of  Lincoln  (Dean  of  St.  Paul's)  to  notify  her  intention 
of  going  in  state  on  Thursday,  and  demand  proper 
seats  for  her  and  her  suite.  They  are  trying  to  fight 
off,  but  tho'  they  may  dirty  themselves,  nothing  shall 
prevent  her  from  going.  This  is  a  healing  and  a  good 
measure. 

"  Again — there  is  a  second  letter  from  Castlereagh, 
mentioning  a  bill  to  'confirm  the  arrangement  of 
1809;'  and  as  this  involves  separation,  it  has  (as  v^ell 
it  may)  alarmed  her,  and  now  she  is  all  for  asking  our 
advice  !  They  7nay  make  such  a  blunder,  as  all  along 
they  have  blundered  ;  if  they  do,  we  are  all  alive 
again,  and  shall  push  it.     Say  how  it  strikes  you. 

"As  for  Westr. — it  now  appears  that  Aid.  Wood  is 
only  making  a  catspaw  of  old  C[artwright]  *  and  that 
he  counts  on  his  dying,  and  leaving  a  place  for  him — 
the  Alderman.  He  has  avowed  that  he  would  rather 
see  Sheridan,  or  any  court  tool,  returned  than  a  IVhig 
in  disguise,  viz.,  me  ;  and  he  asserts  plainly  that,  on  the 
comparison,  'more  is  to  be  hoped  from  Cart's  par- 
liamentary talents  than  from  B.'s — the  former  being 
greater.'  This  has  opened  some  eyes — for  they  justl\' 
conclude  he  can't  be  really  speaking  his  mind.  .  .  . 
I  can't  help  fearing  Burdett  is  doing  something, 
but  I  don't  know  for  certain.  Holland  House  from 
personal  hatred  [/>.  of  Brougham]  supports  Sherry  ; 
the  Russells  and  Cavendishes,  I  understand,  quite  the 
contrary,  ..." 

The  next  stage  in  this  intolerable  scandal  was  the 
refusal  to  the  Princess  of  a  seat  in  St.  Paul's  Cathe- 
dral on  the  occasion  of  the  national  thanksgiving  for 
peace  on  7th  July. 

Henry  Brougham  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Monday. 

".  .  .  Mrs.  Prinny  comes  into  court  this  day.  She 
sent  St.  Leger  to  see  the  Ld.  Chamberlain  about  St. 
Paul's,  who  wd.  not  see  him.  A  letter  then  was  written 
to  which  she  got  an  answer  last  night.     She  was  told 

*  John  Cartwright  [1740-1824],  the  "  Father  of  Reform." 


ISI3-I4-]  LORD    COCHRANE'S    CASE.  203 

there  was  no  place  for  her.  So  the  game  is  alive 
once  more.  Sefton  is  in  high  spirits,  and  Sam  and 
Brougham  are  to  see  her  this  day,  and  get,  if  possible, 
a  letter  or  message  from  her  upon  the  subject,  setting 
forth  this  new  indignit}',  and  I  trust  spurning  the 
money  upon  such  terms.  So  we  shall  recover  from 
the  scrape  she  placed  us  all  in.  .  .  .  What  think 
you  of  Cochrane  setting  all  at  defiance,  refusing  to 
solicit  a  pardon  from  the  pillory,  maintaining  his 
innocence,  &c.  ? — that  it  is  the  sentence,  not  the  inflic- 
tion that  he  minds ;  and  as  for  pardon,  he  will  die 
sooner  than  ask  it*  Burdett  takes  the  field  for  him.  I 
find  many  people  take  the  field  for  him  as  to  innocence, 
or  at  least  have  doubts,  tho'  the  doctrine  is  that  the 
conviction  is  a  sufficient  reason  to  send  him  back  to 
his  constituents." 

"4th  July,  1 8 14. 

''Dear  C, 

"  First  as  to  Mother  P.f  I  was  sure  of  my 
adversary  giving  some  opening;  so  yesterday,  in  reply 
to  St.  Leger's  asking  seats.  Lord  Hertford  (cornuto, 
husband,  father,  &c.)  in  his  own  proper  person  writes 
saying  the  whole  seats  in  St.  Paul's  are  arranged  by 
the  Regent,  and  Mrs.  P.  can't  have  one.  I  have  just 
despatched  a  Dft.  of  a  letter  to  Mr.  Speaker  in  which 
Mrs.  P.  takes  the  highest  ground,  saying  she  had 
accepted  in  the  belief  of  its  being  an  earnest  of  a  new 
system  of  treatment,  &c.,  and  in  order  to  show  her 
conduct  to  the  P.  was  only  because  she  must  vindicate 
herself,  and  not  arising  from  any  vexatious  views;  but 
now  she  finds  she  and  the  offer  and  all  have  been 
wholly  misconstrued,  and  that  her  conduct  has  been 

*  Lord  Cochrane,  afterwards  loth  Earl  of  Dundonald  [1775-1860], 
one  of  the  most  splendid  naval  commanders  that  ever  paced  a  quarter- 
deck,, was  tried  for  a  Stock  Exchange  conspiracy,  and,  though  undoubt- 
edly innocent,  was  convicted  with  his  own  uncle  and  one  de  Berenger, 
who  were  the  real  culprits.  Cochrane  was  sentenced  to  an  hour's  pillory, 
a  year's  imprisonment,  and  a  fine  of  ;!^iooo.  He  was  dismissed  the 
Navy,  and  expelled  from  the  House  of  Commons;  but  his  constituents 
in  Westminster  immediately  returned  him  again  to  Parliament.  In 
1828,  after  continuous  sea-service  under  foreign  Powers,  he  was 
reinstated  as  rear-admiral  in  the  Royal  Navy. 

t  The  Princess  of  Wales. 


204  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  IX. 

supposed  to  proceed  from  an  unworthy  compromise  ; 
and  in  short,  throwing  up,  on  the  ground  of  the  treat- 
ment continuing,  «S:c.,  &.c.  .  .  .  This  is  decisive,  I  think, 
and  gives  us  the  game  again.  .  .  .  However,  if  she 
refuses  to  send  it  (which  I  fear)  we  are  done,  or  nearly 
so.  I  wrote  her  a  long  and  very  severe  epistle  on 
Saturday,  accusing  her  of  everything,  &c.  She  is  the 
better  for  it,  and  promises,  &c.  .  .  .  Now  as  to  Westr. 
I  hear  Burdett  really  is  trying  to  put  down  the  Major 
and  bring  me  in.  Meantime  Sherry*  talks  of  W.  as  a 
close  boro'  in  his  family,  and  he  is  to  have  a  meeting 
forthwith.  G.  Byng  told  me  he  had  declared  himself 
for  me,  and  was  ready  to  go  from  house  to  house, 
'  and  by  Gad  to  wear  out  two  shoes  in  it,'  meaning  two 
pair.  .  .  .  There  is  a  strange  backwardness  in  Sam 
[Whitbread]  about  Westr.  Whether  it  be  that  he 
never  can  be  led  to  believe  that  there  is  no  occasion 
for  anybody  in  Parlt.  other  than  himself — or  that  he 
thinks  Westr.  too  much  for  me — or  that  he  really  can't 
feel  easy  in  going  agt.  Sherry — I  know  not,  but  he 
won't  speak  to  any  one." 

To  the  chagrin  of  the  irresponsible  members  of  the 
Opposition,  the  Princess  of  Wales,  having  declined 
the  increase  to  her  allowance  voted  by  Parliament, 
left  the  country  in  August,  for  which  Brougham 
bitterly  blames  Whitbread — unjustly,  as  far  as  one 
can  see. 

"9th  Aug.,  18 1 4. 
".  .  .  By  G — d,  Sam  is  incurable— all  this  devilry 
of  Canning,  &c.,  and  Mrs.  P.  bolting,  &c.,  is  owing  to 

his  d d  conceit  in  making  her  give  up  the  ;!^r 5,000 

— of  hiynselj,  without  saying  a  word  to  any  one." 

*  R.  B.  Sheridan. 


(      205      ) 


CHAPTER  X. 

1814-1815. 

The  peace  having  reopened  the  Continent  to  English 
travellers,  Mr.  Creevey  took  his  wife,  who  was  in 
failing  health,  in  the  autumn  of  1814,  to  spend  the 
winter  at  Brussels ;  than  which,  as  affairs  turned  out, 
he  could  scarcely  have  chosen  a  less  tranquil  resting- 
place  for  an  invalid. 

Lady  Holland  to  Mrs.  Crccvey  [at  Brussels]. 

"Holland  House,  23rd  Sept.,  1814. 

".  .  .  We  have  all  assured  Mr.  Jeffrey*  that  you 
and  Mr.  Creevey  will  be  glad  to  see  him,  so  do  not  be 
surprised  at  receiving  a  visit  from  that  very  dear  little 
man,  who  has  the  best  heart  and  temper,  although  the 
authors  of  the  day  consider  him  as  their  greatest 
scourge.  .  .  .  You  will  thank  us  much  for  his  acquaint- 
ance, as  he  is  full  of  wit,  anecdote  and  lively  sallies. 
.  .  .  The  strange  intrigue  about  the  Dss.  of  Cumber- 
land's not  being  received  is  likely  to  become  publick.f 
From  the  letters  I  have  seen,  our  old  Queen  is  likely 
to  come  off  second  best,  as  her  actions  are  directly  in 
contradiction  to  her  professions ;  but  all  these  Court 

*  Francis  Jeffrey,  the  distinguished  lawyer  and  judge,  and  editor  of 
the  Edinburgh  Revieiu. 

t  The  Duke  of  Cumberland  did  not  marry  till  August,  1S15.  His 
wife  was  Princess  Frederica,  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  I^Iecklenberg- 
Strelitz,  and  widow,  ist,  of  Prince  Frederick  of  Prussia,  and  2nd,  of 
Prince  Frederick  William  of  Salmo-Braunfels 


206  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  X. 

squabbles  are  trumpery  and  uninteresting  in  the 
greatest  degree.  I  hear  nothing  of  the  meeting  of 
Parliament,  and  conclude  it  will  stand  over  Xmas. 
We  hear  reports  of  disunion  among  the  luminaries 
who  govern  us,  especially  in  those  at  Paris  as  to  the 
subject  of  France,  both  as  to  its  limits  and  its  ministry; 
but  it  is  so  much  their  interest  to  agree,  that  it  will 
not  transpire  beyond  a  little  grumbling.  .  .  ." 


Lord  Hollatid  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"Holland  House,  17th  Oct.,  1814. 

"The  peace,  as  it  is  with  some  stretch  of  courtesy 
called,  satisfies  no  one  class  of  people.  Those  who 
hate  France  think  enough  has  not  been  done  to  reduce 
her  power  of  mischief,  and  those  who  feel  some  little 
sympathy  with  her  from  a  recollection  of  the  original 
cause  in  which  she  engaged,  and  to  which  late  events 
have  in  some  degree  brought  her  back,  lament  her 
humiliation,  and  resent  yet  more  the  triumph  of  her 
enemies.  When  a  male  child  is  born,  every  woman 
in  the  house  looks  an  inch  higher ;  and  when  a  legiti- 
mate King  is  restored,  every  sprig  of  Royalty  in 
Europe  becomes  more  insolent  and  insufferable.  .  .  . 
I  have,  I  own,  a  little  tcndressc  for  the  Dutch  King 
whom  you  laugh  at.  It  does  not  seem  that  the  Flemish 
have  any.  .  .  . ' 


Henry  Brougham,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"Temple,  Nov.  24,  1814. 
"Dear  Lord  Creevey, 

"  I  beg  to  begin  by  informing  you  that  Lord 
Binning,  the  Canningite,  is  extremely  angry  to  find 
persons  who  are  not  lords  getting  the  title  in  France 
just  as  if  they  were.  To  learn  that  this  delusion 
extends  to  Brussels  must  drive  him  mad.  Next,  let 
me  notify  to  you  the  destruction  or  doing  of  Canning 
and  Co.— not  his  character,  for  no  man  who  can  make 
a  flashy  speech  ever  lost  that,  except,  perhaps,  by 
conviction  for  a  certain  kind  of  offence— but  his  being 


I8I4-I5-]        BROUGHAM    ON   THE   SITUATION.  20/ 

sent  abroad,  and  on  the  score  of  his  child's  health;* 
so  that  Mouldy  t  and  Co.  may  be  gasping,  and  he  can't 
possibly  come  to  their  aid  without  either  killing  or 
curing  his  child.  He  can't  do  the  one,  and  he  won't 
do  the  other.  I  am  told  the  Moscovites  are  ashamed 
of  their  member,  and  the  result  will  be  their  chusing 
Husky.t  All  this  I  tell  you  because  you  are  a  good 
hater.  You  know  I  care  not  two  farthings  one  way  or 
t'other,  and  have  far  more  liking — I  should  rather  say 
far  less  dislike — towards  C.  than  to  many  of  our  own 
friends — the  little  Whigs  who  ruin  the  party. 

"This  brings  me  to  add,  that  the  Ministry  being 
dished  over  and  over  again  has  no  effect  in  turning 
them  out,  because  our  friends  have  lost  the  confidence 
of  the  people — a  plant  of  slow  growth  and  almost 
impossible  to  make  sprout  again  after  it  has  been 
plucked  up  and  frostbitten — for  example,  by  the 
Grenville  winter.  .  .  ,  Meanwhile,  Holland  House 
being,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  shut  up,  some  chance 
of  favorable  change  is  afforded.  I  forgot  another 
event  of  much  account  in  trul^'  Whig  eyes — a  young 
Cavendish  §  is,  or  is  to  be  soon,  added  to  the  H.  of  C. 
You  may  expect  news,  therefore.  Perhaps  you'll  say 
the  Govt,  will  be  overthrown.  Possibly :  but  I  expect 
that,  at  the  least,  the  interesting  young  person  will 
divide  once  in  the  course  of  the  Frost,  if  it  lasts,  and 
that  he  will  range  under  the  illustrious  heads  of  the 
House  of  Cavendish.  ...  As  for  the  big  man  of  all, 
Prinnie,  he  has  been  ill  in  the  bladder,  on  which 
Sam  [Whitbread]  said — 'God  make  him  worse!'  but 
this  prayer  was  rejected.  Young  P.|l  is  as  ill  off  as  ever 

*  Canning,  who  had  been  out  of  office  since  his  duel  with  Castle- 
reagh  in  1809,  was  sent  as  ambassador  to  Lisbon  in  18 14. 

t  The  Right  Hon.  Nicholas  Vansittart,  Chancellor  of  the  Ex- 
chequer, created  Lord  Bexley  in  1823. 

X  The  Right  Hon.  WiUiam  Huskisson  [1770-1830]  was  Secretary 
to  the  Treasury  in  the  last  administration  of  Pitt  and  in  the  Duke 
of  Portland's,  but  he  resigned  office  with  Canning  in  1S09.  In  1814 
he  resumed  office  as  First  Commissioner  of  Woods,  Sec,  though  his 
views  on  free  trade  were  not  in  harmony  with  those  of  the  Tory 
Cabinet.     He  was  not  returned  for  Liverpool  till  1823. 

§  Hon.  Charles  Cavendish,  created  Baron  Chesham  in  185S  :  died 
in  1863. 

II  Princess  Charlotte  of  Wales. 


208  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.        [Ch.  X. 

— no  money,  sale  of  trinkets'to  pay  pensions,  &c.,  an 
old  lady  sleeping  in  the  room,  &c.,  &c.  The  Party 
are  no  longer  as  averse  to  the  subject  as  Lauderdale 
would  wish  and  Ly.  Holland.  ...  I  mentioned  above 
my  Paris  trip  having  been  most  agreeable.  I  say, 
after  seeing  all  the  rest  of  Europe  from  Stockholm  to 
Naples,  nothing  is  to  be  named  in  the  same  year  with 
Paris  for  delights  of  every  kind  and  sort.  ...  It  is 
the  place  to  go  to  and  live  at :  be  sure  of  that." 

"Temple,  15  Dec,  1814. 

"  I  delayed  writing  last  Friday  in  hopes  of  having 
better  news  to  give  you  of  Sefton,  who  had  been 
dangerously  ill  of  an  inflammn.  of  the  bladder.  .  .  , 
To-day  came  a  letter  from  himself,  which  is  a  picture 
of  the  man,  to  be  sure,  but  gives  rise,  nevertheless,  to 
much  alarm.  Hat  Vaughan  had  written  to  make  him 
ask  Stanistreet  (his  ally)  about  the  'Fortunate  Youth' 
hoax,  on  which  the  said  Hat  had  a  bet.  Sefton  begins 
thus — 'As  I  have  just  had  my  will  witnessed  by  3 
physicians,  I  thought  I  might  not  have  another  op- 
portunity of  asking  Stanistreet  your  question;'  and 
then  he  goes  on  very  coolly  to  give  the  details  of  the 
matter.  He  concludes  by  saying  he  had  had  a  re- 
lapse, and  been  in  great  jeopardy,  and  that  he  had 
lost  140  ounces  of  blood  in  five  days.  This  was  in 
addition  to  40  the  first  attack,  besides  every  sort  of 
discipline — calomel,  hot  baths,  antimony,  &:c.,  &c.  .  .  . 
After  such  evacuation  by  bleeding,  I  know  the  cursed 
effects  upon  the  system,  and  want  him  to  have  the 
best  advice.  .  .  .  My  own  complaints  came,  I  believe, 
wholly  from  the  infernal  bleeding  I  had  in  that 
country  of  broken  bones  and  traders  and  voices — • 
Northumberland  ;  and  tho'  I  bled  about  a  bucket  full, 
it  was  nothing  to  this  late  performance  of  the  Earl. 

"  I  put  all  private  feeling  out  of  the  question  (tho' 

I  don't  know  why  one  should,  considering  the  d d 

country  we  have  to  deal  with),  and  I  say  that  no  loss 
I  know  would  annoy  me  more  at  present  than  his. 
If  he  was  invaluable  before,  now  that  everything  like 
discipline  is  at  an  end  he  is  1000  times  more  so.  You 
cannot  easily  conceive  .  .  .  how  he  rallied,  animated, 
stirred,  supported — in  short,  did  all  that  a  man  could 


1S14-15]        BROUGHAM   ON   THE   SITUATION.  209 

do  who  absurdly  chose  to  be  silent  when  he  might 
have  done  great  things  in  speaking.  He  was  once 
or  twice  even  on  the  point  of  doing  this  also,  and  I 
knoiv  must  have  succeeded.  ...  I  dined  yesterday  at 
Coutts's.  The  last  time  I  had  that  pleasure  (Erskine 
being  there)  a  difficulty  arose  about  thirteen  persons 
at  table  ;  to  prevent  which,  E.  being  there  likewise 
yesterday,  twenty  guests  were  provided  ;  among  them 
Lauderdale  and  the  Marchioness  of  L.*  (the  Countess 
of  L.  being  in  the  Ionian  Islands  with  all  his  family), 
Warrendert  and  his  wife.  I  learnt  from  W.  (and  L. 
seemed  to  agree),  that  Prinnie  is  in  a  bad  way.  They 
have  positively  ordered  him  to  give  up  his  stays,  as  the 
wearing  them  any  longer  would  be  too  great  a  sacri- 
fice to  ornament — in  other  words,  would  kill  him.  .  .  . 

"  The  D.  of  York  dined  t'other  day  at  Holland 
House,  and  was  very  gracious.  Whether  any  attempt 
at  getting  ^^200,000  to  pay  his  debts  will  succeed,  is 
another  matter.  ...  A  breach  between  Prinnie  and 
him  seems  unavoidable,  sooner  or  later,  tho'  the  D.'s 
discretion  will  make  it  more  difficult  for  P.  to  bring 
him  to  a  quarrel  than  most  people. 

"  As  for  Mrs.  P.,  I  never  for  a  moment  have 
doubted  that  a  divorce  is  as  impossible  as  ever. 
They  may  buy  her ;  but  even  that  will  take  time,  for 
we  were  prepared  for  such  a  purpose  3  years  ago, 
and  steps  were  taken  to  create  delays,  which  must 
be  effectual.  However,  I  don't  expect  to  see  the 
Ministers  do  such  an  act  of  folly,  not  to  mention 
the  situation  of  the  Chancellor,  and  Canning,  and 
the  interests  of  Hertford  House. 

"As  the  session  approaches,  it  is  natural  to  feel 
anxious  for  your  return.  It  will  be  a  session  of  de- 
tached and  unexpected  affairs,  and  full  of  sport  and 
mischief,  after  a  dull  commencement.  .  .  .  Don't  be- 
lieve those  who  say  nobody  will  come  up.  Every- 
body will.  Curiosity  and  idleness  will  also  make 
everybody  attend  from  4  to  7  daily,t  and  when  have 

*  The  allusion  is  obscure,  as  there  was  no  Marchioness  of 
Lauderdale. 

t  Sir  John  Warrcnder,  5th  baronet  of  Lochend,  and  his  wife,  Lady 
Julian,  daughter  of  the  8th  Karl  of  Lauderdale. 

X  In  those  days  the  sittings  of  the  House  of  Commons  began  at  4  p.m. 


^210  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  X. 

they  done  more  ?  .  .  .  Your  coming  is  indispensable. 
I  could  give  so  many  reasons,  that  I  shall  give  none. 
You  must  be  over  before  the  27th  Jany, — that  is  quite 
certain.  ...  I  shall  only  say  everything  will  depend 
on  a  little  exertion  soon  after  the  meeting.  When  I 
tell  you  that  Bennet  almost  gave  up  attendance,  be- 
cause Mrs.  B.  would  not  allow  him  to  remain  later 
than  6  any  night,  you  will  conclude  that  there  are 
two  fools  in  the  world ;  and,  strange  to  tell,  one  is  a 
brother  of  0[ssulston] — the  other  a  Russell*  She 
is  really  too  bad.  I  used  to  think  her  a  model,  till 
marriage  brought  her  out :  now  she  exceeds  all 
belief.  .  .  ." 

"Southill,  28  Dec,  1814. 

".  .  .  C.  Stuart  t  will  do  whatever  he  can  to  make 
himself  useful  to  you,  .  .  .  He  is  a  plain  man,  of  some 
prejudices,  caring  little  for  politics  and  of  very  good 
practical  sense.  You  will  find  none  of  his  prejudices 
(which,  after  all,  are  little  or  nothing)  at  all  of  an 
aristocratic  or  disagreeable  kind.  He  has  no  very 
violent  passions  or  acute  feelings  about  him,  and  likes 
to  go  quietly  on  and  enjoy  himself  in  his  way.  He 
has  read  a  great  deal  and  seen  much  more,  and  done, 
for  his  standing,  more  business  than  any  diplomatic 
man  1  ever  heard  of  By  the  way — as  for  diplomacy, 
or  rather  its  foppery,  he  has  none  of  the  thing  about 
him  ;  and  if  you  ever  think  him  close  or  buttoned  up, 
I  assure  you  he  had  it  all  his  life  just  as  much.  He 
has  no  nonsense  in  his  composition,  and  is  a  strictly 
honorable  man,  and  one  over  whom  nobody  will  ever 
acquire  the  slightest  influence.  I  am  so  sick  of  the 
daily  examples  I  see  of  havoc  made  in  the  best  of 
men  by  a  want  of  this  last  quality,  that  I  begin  to 
respect  even  the  excess  of  it  when  I  meet  it.  I 
thought  you  might  like  to  be  forewarned  of  your  new 
Minister,  and  therefore  have  drawn  the  above  hasty 
sketch.  .  .  ." 

*  The  Hon.  Henry  Bennet,  2nd  son  of  the  4th  Earl  of  Tanker- 
ville,  and  an  active  member  of  "The  Mountain,"  married,  in  1816, 
Gertrude  Frances,  daughter  of  Lord  William  Russell. 

t  Sir  Charles  Stuart,  G.C.B.,  British  Minister  at  Brussels.  He 
was  a  grandson  of  the  3rd  Earl  of  Bute,  and  was  created  Baron  Stuart 
de  Rothesay  in  1828. 


1814-15]      THE   PINCH   OF   THE   PROPERTY-TAX.         311 


Hon.  H.  G.  Bonnet,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Crecvey  [at  Brussels']. 

"Whitehall,  2  Feby.,  181 5. 
"  Our  partys  at  Taylor's  *  are  very  flourishing — 
—  the  veal  tree  in  full  fruit  —  and  I  go  there  every 
night.  All  the  party  (tree  as  well)  send  there  re- 
membrances to  you.  Taylor  is  steady  with  Prinny 
for  the  session,  as  he  has  been  told  that  Py.  said  the 
other  day — 'he  loved  no  man  so  well.'  Is  not  this 
provoking  ?  that  so  good  a  man  shd.  be  so  duped." 

Henry  Brougham  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Temple,  Jan.  17,  1815. 

".  .  .  Liverpool  (the  town)  is  all  in  an  uproar 
(indeed  I  might  say  the  same  of  the  man  of  that 
name)  about  the  property  tax.  We  shall  do  them  to 
a  certainty.  Our  friends  are  in  much  force  on  the 
/  American  peace  and  renewal  of  their  trade,  and  the 
Scotchman  (Gladstone)  at  a  woful  discount,  having 
become  odious  to  all  parties.  His  letters  in  the 
newspapers  boldly  denying  the  receiving  a  communi- 
cation from  Jenky "["  on  the  property  tax  (and  which 
he  now  explains  away,  I  understand,  by  a  quibble) 
are  quite  fatal  with  a  'generous  and  open-hearted 
publick,'  who  never  understand  special  pleading,  and 
are  very  ready  to  confound  it  with  lying.  Accord- 
ingly, 1  expect  to  see  severe  handling  at  the  ap- 
proaching meeting  called  by  a  large  requisition,  at 
the  head  of  which  are  *  Earl  of  Sefton  and  W. 
Roscoe,  Esq.'  S.  will  be  good  on  the  backbone,  and 
the  pautriot  will  have  much  to  urge.  Our  worthy 
friend,  now  returned  from  America,  will  not  be  bad 
— and  the  Pastor  tells  me  '  Carey  is  now  in  the  state 
of  a  loaded  blunderbuss,  and  it  is  hard  to  say  whether 
he  mow  down  more  friends  or  foes,  but  probably 
many  of  both.'     Erskine  is  K.T.,t  and  says  he  passes 

*  Michael  Angelo  Taylor's,  a  constant   rendezvous  of  the  Whig 
party.     Mr.  Taylor  was  an  importunate  candidate  for  a  peerage, 
t  The  Premier,  Lord  Liverpool. 

t  Kni"ht  of  the  Thistle. 


212  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.        [Ch.  X. 

the  happiest  hours  of  his  life  at  the  PaviUion,  which 

is  like  enough,  if  his  w e  knocks  him  down  before 

his  son  as  she  lately  did." 

"  Temple,  Wedy. 

".  .  .  The  only  remarkable  thing  I  have  to  tell 
you  is  that  yesterday  arrived  a  formal  annunciation 
of  our  blessed  Lady,  the  Pss.  of  Wales,  that  early  in 
May  she  is  to  appear  and  make  herself  manifest  in 
Kensington  Palace.  I  had  warned  her  of  her  perils 
at  Xmas,  and  she  writes  the  letter  to  Jenky, 
officially,  on  nth  Jany.  This  is  pretty  well  for  a 
morning  cordial  to  our  illustrious  Regent.  Fergu- 
son, M.  Taylor  and  I  t'other  day  made  a  party  and 
went  to  the  stakes — the  Jockey  *  in  high  force  as 
also  was  Mister  Chairlcs  Moris.  The  said  Jy.  begins 
to  think  the  [^illegible]  blown  upon  by  the  great  ribbon 
trade  in  which  P.  has  been  dabbling;  for  he  was 
pleased  to  speak  of  '  ribbons  of  all  sorts — blue  and 
red,'  a  kind  of  disrespect  not  customary  with  him. 

"  I  dined  with  Erskine  t'other  day  in  a  large  party, 
and  he  seems  much  in  fear  of  that  subject  being 
broached.  I  took  occasion  to  congratulate  him  twice 
of  happy  events  that  had  happened  since  we  met,  and 
made  each  time  a  short  pause,  so  that  he  expected 
the  Thistle  was  coming  out ;  but  I  added — the  peace 
with  America  and  Tom's  marriage.  He  was  clearly 
hustled  about  his  new  honour.  Romilly  made  a  very 
good  joke  about  it :  he  called  him  '  The  Green  Man 
and  Still,'  alluding  to  his  silence  in  the  House  of 
Lords."  t 

"March  8,  1815. 
"...  I  must  repeat  my  intreaties  that  \{  yoit  can 
at  all  make  it  convenient  to  come  even  for  a  fortnight 
this  session  after  Easter,  you  should  do  so.  Whitbread 
cannot  tell  you  how  much  you  are  wanted,  because 
he  is  quite  satisfied  all  is  right  when  he  is  there 
himself  .  .  .  All  our  friends  are  jibbing  on  the 
Scotch  job,  except  the  Mountain.  To  hear  Whigs 
speak  for  a  measure  that  goes   directly  to   augment 

*  The  nth  Duke  of  Norfolk. 

t  The  ribbon  of  the  Order  of  the  Thistle,  just  received  by  Erskine 
is  "reen. 


iSr4-i^.]  THE   HUNDRED    DAYS.  213 

the  power  of  the  Crown  in  the  very  worst  direction, 
viz.  great  increase  of  judicial  patronage,  is  a  little 
spleening,  .  .  ,  Adam  *  and  Lauderdale  talk  them  over, 
tho'  they  all  know  that  Adam  was  a  principal  means 
of  keeping  them  out  of  place.  This  is  a  subject  too 
irritating,  by  God,  to  think  of.  What  think  you, 
too,  of  Adam  keeping  his  household  office  about  the 
P.,  tho'  a  puisne  judge?  Were  I  in  rarlt.,  I  should 
undoubtedly  bring  forward  a  specific  and  personal 
question  upon  it.  But  why  does  not  Folkestone  ?  I 
hope  to  God  he  will." 

The  deliberations  of  the  Congress  of  Vienna,  where 
Wellington  was  British  Plenipotentiary,  were  verging 
upon  violent  rupture,  owing  to  the  anxiety  of  every 
Continental  Power  either  toincrease  its  own  dominions 
or  to  diminish  those  of  its  neighbour.  The  dispu- 
tants had  gravitated  into  two  hostile  groups,  wherein 
Russia  and  Prussia,  supporting  Murat,  King  of  Naples, 
in  his  aggression  on  the  Papal  States,  were  ranged 
against  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Austria.  Suddenly, 
at  the  beginning  of  March,  all  these  disputes  were 
hushed  to  silence  in  the  imminence  of  common  peril. 
Napoleon  had  escaped  from  Elba  and  landed  in  France. 
The  wondrous  Hundred  Days  had  begun. 

Hon.  //.  G.  Bcnnet  to  Mr.  Creevey  [at  Brussels]. 

"  Upper  Brook  St.,  3rd  April,  181 5. 

".  .  .  You  are  at  the  fountain  head  of  all  the  con- 
tinental projects.  Here  we  are  certainly  for  war:  the 
old  doctrines  of  there  being  no  security  for  peace  with 
Napoleon  are  again  broached,  and  you  hear  all  repeated, 
which  one  had  almost  forgot,  of  the  nonsense  of  1793. 
Parties  are  making  on  these  subjects,  and  they  are  as 
you  may  imagine.     Ld.  Grenville  started  furious  for 

*  The  Right  Hon.  William  Adnin  [1751-1S39],  Attorney-General 
to  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  Lord  Chief  Commissioner  to  tlie  Scottish 
Jury  Court. 


214  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  X. 

war,  or  at  least  declaring  there  was  no  chance  of  avoid- 
ing it.  A  correspondence  has  taken  place  between 
him  and  Grey,  who  is  anxious  for  peace,  which  has 
considerably  softened  the  Bogey,  and  now  he  [Gren- 
ville]  declares  that  his  opinions  are  not  made  up,  but 
that  he  shall  await  further  information.  So  much  is 
gained  by  Grey's  firmness,  who  is  behaving  very  vv^ell. 
Elliot  and  the  Wynnes  and  that  wise  statesman  Fre- 
mantle  *  are  more  hot,  and  the  former  holds  as  a 
doctrine  of  salvation  that  the  existence  of  the  French 
power,  with  Napoleon  at  the  head,  is  incompatible  with 
the  safety  of  Europe :  so  you  see  what  are  to  be  the 
labours  necessary  to  be  accomplished  in  case  the  war 
faction  triumphs.  I  have  not  as  j^et  heard  of  there 
being  any  more  lovers  of  war.  Ld.  Spencer,  the  Car- 
ringtons,  &c.,  are  for  peace,  and  what  is  more  amusing 
still,  Yarmouth,  who  preaches  peace  at  the  corners  of  all 
the  streets,  and  is  in  open  war  with  Papa  and  Mamaf 
upon  that  subject.  Prinny,  of  course,  is  for  war :  as 
for  the  Cabinet,  Liverpool  and  Ld.  Sidmouth  are  for 
peace;  they  say  the  Chancellor t  is  not  violent  the 
other  way ;  but  Bathurst,  Castlereagh,  &c.,  &c,,  are 
red  hot,  and  if  our  allies  will  concur  and  the  plans  do 
not  demand  too  much  money,  war  we  shall  have.  Sam 
is  all  for  Boney,  and  the  Slave  Trade  decree  has  done 
something.  We  consider  here  that  the  Jacobins  are 
masters  at  Paris,  and  let  them  and  the  free  press  and 
the  representative  government  come  from  that  source. 
Leave  them  to  themselves,  and  quarrel  they  will ;  but 
war  will  unite  every  soul,  particularly  if  upon  the 
cursed  motives  of  the  high  party.  .  .  .  However,  all 
the  world  of  all  parties  speak  of  Ney  with  abhorrence, 
as  his  offers  to  the  King — from  whom  he  got  every- 
thing, double  the  money  he  demanded,  &c.— were  all 
made  with  a  firm  determination  to  betray  him.  He 
said,  among  other  things,  that  he  would  bring  Napoleon 
in  a  cage:  to  which  the  King  replied — 'Je  n'aimerais 
pas  un  tel  oiseau  dans  ma  chambre!'  Chateaubriand 
has  also  declared  for  Napoleon,  and  made  a  speech  in 

*  The  Right  Hon.  Sir  Wm.  Henry  Fremantle,  M.P.  [1766-1850]^ 
a  Grenvillite.     Joined  Lord  Liverpool's  Government  in  1822. 
t  Lord  and  Lady  Hertford. 
t  Lord  Eldon. 


I8I4-I5-]  BRUSSELS   IN    1815.  215- 

his  favour  in  the  same  style  of  nonsense  and  blasphemy 
for  which  the  Bourbons  had  named  him  Minister  to 
Sweden. 

"  Most  brilliant  court  at  the  Tuilleries,  and  the 
French  say  'L'Empereur  est  la  bonte  meme.'  They 
would  say  the  same  of  the  devil ;  but  if  I  was  a  French- 
man, I  should  be  all  for  Napoleon.  .  .  .  The  Guards 
have  marched  this  morning  to  embark  at  Deptford  for 
Ostend.  I  consider  they  will  be  there  in  two  days. 
The  fellows  went  off  in  high  spirits,  as  it  is  known 
here  that  beer,  bread,  meat  and  gin  are  cheap  in 
Flanders.  .  .  ." 


From  Mr.  Creeveys  Journal. 

"Brussels,  Sat.,  April  22,  181 5. — I  met  this  night 
at  Lady  Charlotte  Greville's,  amongst  various  other 
persons,  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  and  he  and  I  had  a 
conversation  to  which  most  of  those  present  became 
parties.  He  maintained  that  a  Republick  was  about 
to  be  got  up  in  Paris  by  Carnot,  Lucien  Buonaparte, 
&c.,  &c.,  &c.  I  asked  if  it  was  with  the  consent  of  the 
Manager  Buonaparte,  and  what  the  nature  of  the  piece 
was  to  be.  He  said  he  had  no  doubt  it  would  be 
tragedy  by  Buonaparte,  and  that  they  would  be  at  him 
by  stiletto  or  otherwise  in  a  very  few  weeks.  I,  on 
the  contrary,  thought  the  odds  were  in  favor  of  the 
old  performer  against  the  new  ones,  but  my  Lord 
would  have  it  B.  was  to  be  done  up  out  of  hand  at 
Paris  :  so  nous  verrons.  I  thought  several  times  he 
[Wellington]  must  be  drunk  ;  but  drunk  or  sober,  he 
had  not  the  least  appearance  of  being  a  clever  man. 
I  have  seen  a  good  deal  of  him  formerly,  and  always 
thought  the  same  of  his  talents  in  conversation.  Our 
conversation  was  mightily  amicable  and  good,  con- 
sidering our  former  various  sparring  bouts  in  the 
House  of  Commons  about  Indian  politics." 


Hon.  II.  C.  Bcnnct,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Crccvcy  \at  Brussels]. 

"  May  31,  1815. 

".  .  .  We,  the  Mountain,  are  in  hopes  the  Grenvilles 
are  about  to  part  company,     Ld.   Buckingham  holds 


2l6  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch,  X. 

very  warlike  language  abroad  and  is  for  peace  against 
the  Ministers,  so  we  are  not  to  be  fettered  or  con- 
trouled  ;  and  this  even  on  Althorpe's  motion  about 
Prinny's  [illegible]  the  ;,{:  100,000  outfit.  The  Grenvilles 
swear  either  to  vote  against  us  or  not  to  attend.  I 
mean  one  of  these  fine  days  to  fire  a  shot  at  them 
when  they  are  sheering  off,  and  I  cannot  tell  you  how 
joyful  I  feel  at  the  chance  of  it.  You  may  depend 
upon  it  the  Marquess  wishes  to  be  a  Duke,*  and  he 
is  looking  sharp  after  Stafford's  patent,  with  which 
Ld.  G.  Leveson's  earldom  is  soon  to  come  forth  ;t  but 
I  don't  think  that  the  Government  are  at  all  pleased 
at  our  division.  They  put  off  the  debate  till  that  of 
the  Lords  was  over  to  try  the  effect  of  Bogey's  speech ;  % 
but  it  had  but  little,  and  so  far  from  it  lessening  Sam's 
minority,  you  see  we  rose  from  72  to  92.  The  Treasury 
Bench  thought  we  might  divide  80,  but  none  calculated 
on  more.  We  hope  it  may  tell  with  the  foreigner :  it 
does  much  here.  Grattan,  after  all,  was  no  great  thing 
— full  of  wit  and  fire  and  folly — more  failures  than  suc- 
cess in  his  antithesis,  and  his  piety  and  religious  cant 
was  offensive,  as,  after  all,  whatever  may  be  its  merit 
in  an  individual,  it  is  only  used  in  a  speech  for  the 
worst  of  purposes.  .  .  ." 

Enclosed  in  this  letter  was  the  following  list  of 
"the  Mountain":— 


Milton. 

Wynn,  Sir  VVatkin. 

Balem. 

Mallem. 

Plunket. 

Fremantle. 

Pelham. 

F.  Lewis. 

Grattan. 

Gower,  Lord. 

Baring. 

Calvert, 

Baring,  Sir  T. 

Knox. 

Wrottesley. 

S.  Smith. 

Carew. 

Smith. 

Wynn. 

*  The  2nd  Marquess  of  Stafford  was  not  created  Duke  of  Suther- 
land till  1833,  six  months  before  his  death. 

t  Lord  Granville  Leveson-Gower,  youngest  brother  of  the  2nd 
Marquess  of  Stafford,  was  created  Viscount  Granville  12th  August , 
1815,  and  Earl  Granville  in  1S33. 

%  Lord  Grenville's. 


i8i4-i5.]  THE   SHADOW   OF  WAR.  217 


Hon.  H.  G.  Bennd  to  Mr.  Crccvey. 

"Whitehall,  June  13. 

"  Why,  what  a  fellow  you  are !  have  you  not 
received  my  two  last  letters  that  you  complain  so? 
Sam  complains  too,  and  he  sends  you  his  respects,  for 
you  never  write  to  him,  and  he  says  you  ought  to  do 
so,  for  you  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  lounge.  He  has 
not  been  well — his  old  attack,  but  he  looks  better,  and 
is  so.  I  hope  soon  he  will  get  out  of  town,  and  we 
shall  have  our  release  from  that  damned  place  the  H. 
of  C,  where  we  spend  our  time,  health  and  fortunes. 
.  .  .  We  all  congratulate  you  at  the  recovery  of  your 
senses,  as  we  thought  the  Great  Lord  *  had  bit  you, 
and  that  he,  [illegible]  and  the  Frog  f  had  got  you  quite 
over,  and  that  you  really  believed  Boney  was  to  be 
eat  up  alive ;  but  from  all  we  hear  from  Paris  he  has 
a  great  army,  and  that  things  are  disturbed  in  La 
Vendee,  &c.,  &c.  Yet  I  put  my  confidence  in  the 
Jacobins,  and  if  they  act;  all  the  youth  of  P>ance  will 
come  out  with  them,  and  then  let  me  see  the  state 
your  Kings  will  be  in.  For  my  part,  if  I  thought  they 
[the  Kings]  could  succeed,  I  shd.  be  miserable;  it  is  only 
their  entire  failure  that  keeps  me  in  tolerable  humour. 

"  Our  warlike  friends  are  more  peaceable,  except 
the  Grenvilles  :  at  least  Ld.  Buckingham  is  trying  hard 
for  office.  His  own  creature,  Freemantle,  never  comes 
near  us:  the  Stale t  stays  away,  too,  from  the  Lords, 
and  uses  the  old  language  of  clogging  the  wheels  of 
government.  All  this,  you  will  perceive,  leads  to 
place,  and  I  am  prepared  for  anything — be  it  the  basest 
of  the  crew.  .  .  .  Grey  is  in  the  most  confounded  ill 
humour :  Ponsonby  goes  to  the  play,  and  when  he 
comes  to  the  House  sits  on  the  2nd  bench,  and  Oppo- 
sition muster  in  general  from  20  to  30  persons,  amongst 
whom  is  your  humble  servant:  no  other  people  make 
a  show.  Ridley  and  Monck  never  miss.  Mrs.  Cole  §  is 
doing  very  well  :  the  young  one  ||  factious  and  violent 
— looking  at  the  coming  storm  with  fear;  for  come  it 
will,  and  not  long   first.     It  is  quite  impossible  but 

*  Wellington.         f  The  King  of  Holland.        t  Lord  Grcnville  .' 
§  Mr.  Ticrney.  ||  Hon.  James  Abcrcromby. 


2l8  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  X. 

that  our  finances  must,  if  Boney  be  not  overthrown 
this  year,  give  way,  and  our  dividends  cease.  .  .  .  The 
Loan  is  taken  this  day,  I  hear,  at  54,  so  you  see  to  what 
a  state  our  finances  have  sunk." 

The  agony  of  apprehension — the  scuffle  of  prepa- 
ration— which  swept  over  Europe  during  the  terrible 
Hundred  Days,  when,  regiment  by  regiment,  the 
French  army  rallied  to  the  returned  Emperor,  can 
never  lose  their  hold  upon  the  reader  of  history.  The 
dismay  among  English  residents  and  holiday-makers 
in  Brussels,  their  precipitate  flight,  and  the  scenes  of 
undignified  confusion  and  panic  which  accompanied 
it,  can  never  be  more  vividly  or  more  truthfully 
depicted  than  in  the  pages  of  Vanity  Fair.  Still, 
Thackeray  wrote  from  hearsay.  Distant  though  that 
day  may  be  from  our  own,  it  has  lost  little  of  its 
interest  for  us  of  the  present.  One  is  grateful  to  one 
who,  like  Mr.  Creevey,  actually  witnessed  the  mighty 
drama,  and  was  at  the  pains  to  record  his  experiences. 
From  the  moment  when,  on  5th  April,  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  arrived  in  Brussels  from  Vienna  to  take 
command  of  the  allied  forces  in  Belgium,  it  was  ap- 
parent that  these  must  act  on  the  defensive,  much 
as  their  commander  desired  to  take  the  initiative. 
Of  the  700,000  troops  of  which  he  had  written  on 
24th  March  to  his  brother.  Sir  Henry  Wellesley,*  as 
ready  to  be  massed  on  the  French  frontier  "in  about 
six  weeks,"  none  were  yet  at  hand.  The  Russians 
were  advancing  slowly  through  Poland  ;  the  Austrians 
had  their  hands  full  with  Murat  in  Italy;  of  the 
Prussians,  only  30,000  were  near  enough  to  co-operate 
with  the  Duke's  composite  array  of  24,200,  whereof 
but  4000  were  British,  mostly  recruits.  The  choice 
*  Created  Lord  Cowley  in  1828. 


I8I4-IS-]  NAPOLEON'S   LAST   STAKES.  219 

of  battle-ground,  then,  lay  with  Napoleon,  not  with 
the  Powers.  Everything  depended  upon  how  soon 
he  could  make  ready  to  strike. 

He  wasted  no  time.  It  was  not  his  custom  to 
squander  that  priceless  element  of  successful  war. 
Entering  Paris  on  20th  March,  he  had  at  his  disposal 
in  the  first  week  of  June  a  regular  army  of  312,400, 
and  an  auxiliary  force  of  222,600 — in  all,  535,000  men. 
By  that  time  Wellington's  forces  also  had  been  con- 
siderably augmented ;  but  how  different  was  their 
quality  from  the  army  he  had  dispersed  in  the  south 
of  France  the  year  before — the  army  of  which  he 
proudly  said  in  after-years  it  was  "fit  to  go  anywhere, 
and  do  anything"!  The  actual  composition  of  his 
force  in  Belgium  on  13th  June  was  this  : — 

British       ...             ...  ...       -      ...  ...  31,253 

King's  German  Legion  ...  ...  ...  6,387 

Hanoverians            ...  ...  ...  ...  15, 935 

Dutch-Belgians       ...  ...  ...  ...  29,214 

Brunswickers           ...  ...  ...  ...  6,808 

Nassau  Contingent  ...  ...  •  ...  2,880 

Engineers,  Stafif  Corps,  etc.  ...  ...  1,240 


93,717 


Napoleon  left  Paris  on  12th  June  to  join  his  army 
on  the  Belgian  frontier.  On  the  14th  his  headquarters 
were  at  Beaumont,  about  sixteen  miles  south  of 
Charleroi,  with  his  five  corps  (Tarmee,  numbering 
126,000  of  all  arms,  well  within  reach  of  his  personal 
command. 

Thus  much  to  show  the  position  outside  Brussels. 
Mr.  Creevey  and  his  correspondents  throw  some  light 
upon  the  aspect  of  affairs  within  that  capital.  Doubt- 
less he  would  have  removed  his  wife  from  a  scene  so 
little  suited  for  an  invalid,  and  have  joined  the  stream 


220  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  X. 

of  migrating  English  before  the  French  crossed  the 
frontier,  had  not  Mrs.  Creevey's  state  of  health  made 
it  the  less  of  two  evils  to  remain  where  she  was. 

First  come  a  series  of  hurried,  clandestine  notes 
from  Major  Hamilton,  who  had  married,  or  was  en- 
gaged to,  the  eldest  Miss  Ord,  and  was  on  General 
Barnes's  staff. 


Major  Hamilton  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Brussels,  Thursday,  4  p.m.  [about  18th  March]. 

"My  dear  Mr.  Creevey, 

'^  If  yon  imll  not  blab,  you  shall  hear  all  the 
news  I  can  pick  up,  bad  and  good,  as  it  comes.  I  am 
sorry  to  tell  you  bad  news  to-day.  General  Fagal 
writes  from  Paris  to  say  that  Bonaparte  may  be  in 
that  capital  ere  many  days.  His  army  encreases 
hourly ;  and  as  fast  as  a  regiment  is  brought  up  to 
the  neighbourhood  of  Lyons,  it  goes  over  to  its  old 
master.  Soult  is  said  to  have  promised  not  to  act 
against  the  King,  but  that  his  obligations  to  Bony 
would  not  allow  him  to  take  part  against  the  latter. 
Thus  saying,  he  resigned  to  Louis  the  office  of  War 
Minister,  and  the  man  who  now  holds  it  said  he  would 
only  do  so  so  long  as  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  were 
in  favor  with  the  nation.  Fagal,  take  notice,  is  an 
alarmist,  and  I  hope  our  next  accounts  will  not  be  of 
so  gloomy  a  nature. 

"  Yours, 

"A.  H." 

"  March  20th,  1  o'clock. 

"Bonaparte  is  at  Fontainebleau  with  15,000  men, 
every  man  of  whom  he  can  depend  upon,  because 
every  man  is  a  volunteer,  and  the}'  have  risked  all  for 
his  sake.  The  Royal  army  is  at  Melun,  consisting  of 
about  28,000  men.  National  Guards,  &c.,  «S:c.,  included 
— not  a  man  of  whom  can  be  relied  on.  This  is  the 
critical  moment ;  for  if  they  allow  him  to  enter  Paris 
without  a  battle,  all  is  over,  I  feel  that  I  am  not  acting 
imprudently   in    thus   stating   facts,  which    naturally 


i8i4-i5-3         TIDINGS    FROM   THE   FRONTIER.  221 

Mrs.  Creevey  must  be  made  acquainted  with.  .  .  . 
Wherever  we  may  be  ordered  to  bend  our  course,  I 
shall  always  have  it  in  my  power  to  give  you  such  in- 
formation as  you  may  see  necessary  to  ask  for." 

"  March  22nd. 

"There  is  no  news  this  morning.  All  communica- 
tion with  Paris  is  at  an  end,  and  we  now  look  with 
anxiety  for  the  arrival  of  Lord  Wellington." 

"  March  22nd,  11  p.m. 

".  .  .  The  unfortunate  Louis  1 8th  was  at  Abbeville 
yesterday,  and  has  sent  to  the  General  commanding  at 
Lille  to  know  if  it  would  be  safe  for  him  to  go  there. 
Baron  Trippe  has  gone  off  to  Lille  to  ascertain  the 
answer.  .  .  .  2000  men  still  remain  with  Louis." 

"  Friday,  4  p.m. 

"  I  am  sorry  my  news  still  continues  bad,  indeed 
worse  to-day  than  ever.  'The  people  of  Paris  seem 
to  think  all  is  lost,  and  await  the  entry  of  Bonaparte 
as  a  circumstance  not  to  be  prevented.  Marshal 
Macdonald  has  acted  with  the  utmost  loyalty,  but  all 
his  influence  and  exertions  have  been  unavailing.  His 
men  have  told  him  to  "go  back  to  the  King,  to  re- 
main faithful  to  him  if  he  pleases,  but  that  they  would 
go  over  to  the  Emperor.  The  troops  have  refused 
on  every  occasion  to  fire  at  Bonaparte's  force,  or  to 
make  any  resistance.  He  has  gone  to  Dijon.  The 
Government  has  no  good  information,  for  the  very 
persons  who  are  sent  to  gain  intelligence  go  over  to 
the  enemy.' 

"  Matters  are  not  so  well  with  ourselves  here  as 
they  might  be,  inasmuch  as  the  Belgians  at  Mons 
evince  a  bad  spirit.  Dorneburg,  who  commands  that 
garrison,  is  a  determined  and  good  officer,  and  has 
corps  of  the  German  Legion  near  him  should  cir- 
cumstances require  aid.  A  letter  from  Lille  speaks 
favorably  of  the  good  spirit  prevailing  amongst  the 
inhabitants;  but  alas!  if  the  soldiers  do  not  hold  to 
their  allegiance,  what  can  be  expected  ?  Pray  do  not 
blab;  for  although  all   this  may  have  come  to  your 


222  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  X. 

knowledge  through  other  channels,  yet  it  would  not 
do  for  ute  to  have  the  name  of  a  news-giver. 

"  In  haste,  much  yours, 

"A.  H." 

"  lo  p.m.,  Saturday. 

"The  only  good  news  is  the  spirit  which  seems  to 
prevail  amongst  the  people,  particularly  at  Marseilles. 
.  .  .  Everything  looks  gloomy  ;  I  fear  that  my  dispatch 
of  to-morrow  will  announce  Bony  to  be  not  many 
leagues  from  Paris.  The  big-wigs  are  now  together, 
and  I  shall  have  more  to  tell  you  at  12  o'c." 

"  Sunday,  2  p.m. 
"  Old  Fagal  seems  to  have  recovered  very  much 
from  his  fright.  He  now  says  Bony  is  still  at  Lyons 
— that  the  best  spirit  prevails  throughout  France,  and 
that  affairs  seem  to  wear  a  brighter  aspect.  3000  Dutch 
troops  are  on  their  march  to  reinforce  this  army." 

"  [No  date],  5  o'clock. 

"The  Prince  [ot  Orange]  is  just  now  returned, you 
shall  know  what  news  he  brings  from  Tourna3^ 

"  Dorneberg  is  a  good  officer,  and  has  much  judg- 
ment and  experience.     He  commands  at  Mons. 

"  Halket  commands  at  Courtray ;  has  a  fine  British 
brigade  and  is  a  gallant  soldier. 

"  Old  Alten  has  the  Cavalry  at  Ypres,  with  the 
52nd  and  69th  British,  and  4  of  the  Hanoverian 
battalions :  all  good  stuff.  7000  Royalists  from 
France,  first  to  bleed,  are  outside  the  Belgic  frontier; 
and  will  give  us  notice,  by  their  running  away ;  but 
until  WE  begin  to  run,  Mrs.  Creevey  need  not  fancy 
the  French  are  in  Bruxelles  ;  and,  for  her  sake,  may 
they  never  be  is  the  very  sincere  wish  of 

**  Yours, 

"A.  H." 

"  Saturday. 
"  Headquarters  remain  here  for  the  present.     The 
Prince  [of  Orange]  brings   no   news.      All   is   quiet. 
Lord  March  was  sent  to  find  out  where  the  King  was 


1814-15.]  ARRIVAL   OF  WELLINGTON.  223 

on  the  24th.  His  Majesty  was  not  at  Bruges,  and  the 
Earl  returned.  If  Lord  Wellington  comes  in  a  day  or 
two  or  three,  how  Mrs.  Creevey  will  crow  over  all  the 
world !  For,  rest  satisfied,  if  Bony  does  not  push 
to-morrow  (which  he  cannot  do)  his  game  for  the 
present  is  up,  and  a  stand  can  be  made  on  the  ground 
we  occupy,  with  the  troops  hourly  expected  from 
Ostend,  and  with  the  Patrone  !  "  * 

"  26th,  10  p.m. 
"A  Russian  general  arrived  this  day  at  Mons  who 
left  Paris  on  the  24th.  Bonaparte  was  to  review  his 
troops  on  this  day.  The  General  saw  no  troops  on 
the  road  but  one  regiment,  and  it  was  marching  on 
Paris.  A  General  from  the  Prussian  army  (Roder) 
has  been  sent  here  by  Kliest  to  remain  at  our  head- 
quarters. A  great  deal  of  talk,  much  communication, 
aides-de-camp  from  the  Due  de  Berri — from  the  King 
— from  Victor  ;  in  short,  all  parties  seem  to  have  lost 
their  heads,  and  instead  of  getting  troops  together, 
they  talk  about  it.  It  is  hoped  that  Dunkirk  is  not 
yet  in  Boney's  possession.  If  not,  it  will  form  a  good 
flanking  position  in  case  of  Boney  not  succeeding  in 
his  first  attack  on  our  line." 

Wellington  took  up  the  command  of  the  allied 
forces  in  Belgium  on  5th  April.  There  is  nothing 
from  Creevey's  pen  until  the  crisis  of  the  campaign 
was  upon  Europe. 

From  Mr.  Creevey's  Jonrnal. 

'^  June  16.  Friday  morning,  ^  past  tzvo. — The  girls 
just  returned  from  a  ball  at  the  Duke  of  Richmond's. 
A  battle  has  taken  place  to-day  t  between  Buonaparte 
and  the  Prussians :  to  what  extent  is  not  known  ;  the 
result  is  known,  however,  to  be  in  favour  of  the 
French.  Our  troops  are  all  moving  from  this  place  at 
present.  Lord  Wellington  was  at  the  ball  to-night  as 
composed  as  ever." 

*  Wellington. 

t  Writing  early  in  the  morning  of  the  i6th,  he  refers  to  Napoleon's 
passage  of  the  Sambre  on  the  15th  and  the  capture  of  Charleroi. 


224  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.        [Cn.  X. 

Reminiscences,  written  in  1822. 

A  number  of  incidents  contained  in  Mr.  Creevey's 
letters  and  journals  of  this  period  were  afterwards 
thrown  into  a  consecutive  form  by  him,  together  with 
many  not  elsewhere  recorded. 

"  Cantlcy,  July  28,  1822, — I  became  a  member  of 
the  House  of  Commons  in  1802,  and  the  moment  a 
man  became  such  then,  if  he  attached  himself  to  one 
of  the  great  parties  in  the  House — Whigs  or  Tories — 
he  became  at  once  a  publick  man,  and  had  a  position 
in  society  which  nothing  else  could  give  him.  I 
advert  particularly  to  such  persons  as  myself,  who 
came  from  the  ranks,  without  either  opulence  or  con- 
nections to  procure  for  them  admission  into  the 
company  of  their  betters. 

"  The  account  of  Buonaparte's  conversation  with 
O'Meara  at  St.  Helena,  which  is  just  published,  is 
so  infinitely  curious  and  interesting  that  they  present 
a  very  favorable  occasion  to  me  for  committing  to 
paper  general  facts  within  my  own  knowledge,  more 
or  less  connected  with  some  of  the  events  to  which  he 
refers.  Most  of  these  facts  1  have  already  recorded, 
either  in  letters  to  my  friends  at  the  time,  or  by 
occasional  journals ;  but  they  are  all  as  distinctly  in 
my  recollection  at  present  as  if  they  had  happened 
yesterday. 

"In  the  autumn  of  1814,  Mrs.  Creevey,  her  two 
eldest  daughters  (the  Miss  Ords)  and  her  second  and 
younger  son,  Mr.  Charles  Ord,  and  myself  went  to 
Brussells,  where  we  took  a  house  for  a  term.  .  .  .  We 
found  Brussells  full  of  our  London  Guards;  our 
cavalry  and  other  troops  were  quartered  up  and  down 
the  country.  Having  spent  our  winter  very  merrily 
with  our  English  officers,  and  others  who  had  arrived 
there  in  great  abundance,  about  the  8th  of  March, 
18 1 5,  I  think  it  was,  we  first  heard  of  Buonaparte's 
escape  from  Elba.  At  the  time  the  young  Prince  of 
Orange  was  Commander-in-chief  of  our  forces  in 
Brussells ;  General  Sir  Edward  Barnes  was  Adjutant 
General  of  the  army,  and  Sir  Hudson  Lowe  Quarter- 


I8I4-I5-]  CONFUSION    IN    BRUSSELS.  225 

master  General.  We  remained  nearly  a  fortnight  in 
great  suspense  as  to  what  was  to  be  the  result  of 
this  enterprise  of  Buonaparte.  Since  our  arrival  in 
Brussells  I  had  formed  a  sufficiently  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  General  Barnes  to  be  quite  sure  of 
learning  from  him  the  earliest  intimation  of  any  move- 
ment of  our  army.  One  of  the  aides-de-camp,  too, 
the  late  Col.  Hamilton,  had  already  formed  an  attach- 
ment to  Miss  Ord,  which  in  1815  ended  in  their 
marriage.  ...  It  was  on  the  24th  March,  I  think,  in  the 
morning,  that  he  came  to  tell  us  that  in  all  probability 
Buonaparte  had  passed  the  preceding  night  at  Lille, 
and  might  be  reasonably  expected  at  Brussells  in  two 
da3^s'  time,  and  that  we  ought  to  lose  no  time  in 
leaving  the  place.  Mrs.  Creevey  at  this  time  was  a 
great  invalid,  quite  lame,  and  only  to  be  removed  with 
very  great  pain  and  difficulty  to  herself.  Upon  con- 
sulting with  some  people  of  the  place,  therefore,  as  to 
the  supposed  conduct  of  the  French  if  they  arrived, 
and  knowing  from  Barnes  that  our  troops  were  to 
retire  without  fighting,  we  resolved  to  stay. 

"  During  the  whole  of  this  day — the  24th — the 
English  were  flying  off'  in  all  directions,  whilst  others 
were  arriving  from  Paris ;  and  in  the  night  the 
Guards  all  marched  off  to  Ath,  Enghien,  <&:c.,  &c.  On 
one  of  these  days,  I  forget  which,  I  saw  arrive  on  the 
same  day  from  Paris  the  old  Prince  de  Conde  and  all 
his  suite,  who  went  to  the  Hotel  Bellevue — ^Marmont, 
who  went  to  the  Hotel  d'Angleterre — Victor  to  the 
Hotel  Wellington,  and  Berthier  to  the  Due  d'Arem- 
berg's.  On  Easter  Monday,  I  think  it  was,  I  was 
sitting  at  Charlotte  Greville's,  when  the  Due  de  Berri 
came  to  call  upon  her,  and  expressed  his  great 
astonishment  that  any  English  should  remain  there, 
as  Buonaparte  was  certainly  at  Lille  and  would  no 
doubt  be  here  on  the  Wednesday  following,  and  that 
he  himself,  in  consequence,  was  going  to  Antwerp. 
.  .  .  We  soon  found  there  was  no  foundation  for  the 
report  of  an  early  invasion   of  Belgium    by   Buona- 

garte,  and  a  good  many  of  our  people   returned  to 
irussells,  and  other  new  ones  came  there.     In  April 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  arrived  (I  forget  what  day*) 

*   It  was  the  5th. 


226  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.        [Ch.  X. 

at  Brussells  from  Vienna  ;  and  it  was  the  22nd,  I  tliink, 
I  met  him  at  Lady  Charlotte  Greville's  in  the  evening  ; 
she  having  a  party  of  all  the  principal  persons  then  in 
Brussells  of  all  countries  every  evening. 

''  I  had  seen  a  good  deal  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
in  1806,  and  in  a  very  amicable  way.  He  was  then 
just  returned  from  India,  and  [was]  brought-  into  the 
House  of  Commons  to  defend  his  brother  Ld.  Wel- 
lesley's  Indian  government.  I  was  Secretary  of  the 
Board  of  Controul  at  the  time,  so  that  all  Indian  papers 
moved  for  on  either  side  came  thro'  me  ;  and  this 
brought  me  very  much  in  contact  wnth  Sir  Arthur 
Wellesley  personally,  as  well  as  with  Paull,  who  was 
attacking  his  brother.*  Afterwards  in  1807-8  and  -9 
I  took  a  very  decided  part  in  Parliament  against  Lord 
Wellesley,  which  produced  such  angry  words  between 
Sir  Arthur  and  myself  that  I  was  quite  prepared  for 
there  being  no  further  intercourse  between  us.  To 
do  him  justice,  however,  he  not  only  did  not  seem  to 
resent  or  recollect  these  former  bickerings,  but  from 
the  first  moment  he  saw  me  at  Lady  Charlotte's 
(where  he  put  out  his  hand  to  me)  till  he  quitted 
France  finally  in  the  end  of  1818,  he  behaved  with  the 
most  marked  civility  and  cordiality  to  myself  and  to 
all  who  were  connected  with  me, 

"The  first  occasion  when  I  met  him  at  Lady 
Charlotte's  was  so  curious  a  one  that  I  took  a  note 
of  it  when  I  returned  home,  and  this  I  now  have  by 
me.  We  had  much  conversation  about  Buonaparte, 
and  the  Duke  would  have  it  that  a  Republick  was  the 
thing  which  he  was  sure  was  to  be  got  up  at  Paris — 
that  it  would  never  come  to  fighting  zvith  the  Allies — that 
the  Republick  would  be  all  settled  by  Carnot,  Lucien 
Buonaparte,  &:c.,  &c. — that  he  tvas  confident  it  would 
never  come  to  blows.     So  he  and  I  had  a  good  deal  of 

*  Among  Creevey's  papers  are  many  letters  from  this  Paull,  who  was 
the  son  of  a  Perth  tailor,  was  educated  in  an  Edinburgh  writer's  office, 
and  was  a  trader  for  some  years  in  India.  Expelled  by  the  Nawab 
from  the  Dominion  of  Oude,  he  was  reinstated  by  Lord  Wellesley's 
influence,  made  a  large  fortune,  and  was  returned  to  Parliament, 
where  he  exerted  himself  to  obtain  his  benefactors  impeachment. 
Having  taken  to  gambling  and  lost  heavily,  he  cut  his  throat  in  April, 
1808. 


1814-15]  THE    IRON    DUKE.  227 

joking,  and  I  asked  him  what  he  thought  the  old 
manager  Buonaparte  would  say  to  this  new  piece,  and 
whether  it  was  with  his  consent  it  was  got  up,  and 
whether  it  would  in  truth  turn  out  a  tragedy,  comedy 
or  farce.  He  said  he  had  no  doubt  it  would  be  a 
tragedy  to  Buonaparte,  and  that  they  would  beat  him 
by  stilleto  or  otherwise  in  a  very  few  weeks. 

"  I  retired  with  the  imj^ression  of  his  (the  Duke) 
having  made  a  very  sorry  iigure,  in  giving  no  indica- 
tion of  superior  talents.  However,  as  I  said  before, 
he  was  very  natural  and  good-humoured. 

"  I  continued  to  meet  him  both  at  Lady  Charlotte's 
and  other  places  repeatedly,  and  he  was  always  equally 
communicative — still  retaining  his  original  opinion. 
1  remember  his  coming  in  one  day  to  Lady  Charlotte's 
in  great  glee,  because  Baron  Lories,  the  Finance 
Minister,  had  fled  from  Paris  to  join  the  French  King 
at  Ghent. — '  The  old  fox,'  he  said,  'would  never  have 
run  for  it,  if  he  had  not  felt  that  the  house  was 
tumbling  about  his  ears.' 

"  Then  he  was  always  expressing  his  belief  that 
the  then  approaching  fete  at  Paris  in  the  Champ  de 
M[ars]  would  be  fatal  to  Buonaparte— that  the  ex- 
plosion would  take  place  on  that  occasion,  and  that 
Buonaparte  and  his  reign  would  both  be  put  an  end 
to  on  that  day.  So  when  we  knew  that  the  day  had 
passed  off  in  the  most  favorable  manner  to  the 
Emperor,  being  that  night  at  a  ball  at  the  Duke's 
house,  I  asked  him  what  he  thought  of  things  now  at 
Paris ;  upon  which  he  laughed  and  seemed  not  in  the 
least  degree  affected  by  the  event.  But  when  on  the 
same  evening  I  made  a  remark  about  the  Duke's 
indifference  to  Sir  Charles  Stuart,*  our  ambassador, 
the  latter  said  in  his  curious,  blunt  manner: — 'Then 
he  is  damned  different  with  you  from  what  he  is  with 
me,  for  I  never  saw  a  fellow  so  cut  down  in  my  life 
than  he  was  this  morning  when  he  first  heard  the 
news. 

"  The  Duke  during  this  period  was  for  ever  giving 
balls,  to  which  he  was  always  kind  enough  to  ask  my 
daughters  and  myself;  and  very  agreeable  they  were. 

*  Nephew  of  the  1st  Marquess  of  Bute,  created  Lord  Stuart  de 
Rothesay  in  1828. 


228  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  X. 

On  one  occasion,  having  been  at  a  ball  in  his  house 
on  a  Saturday  night,  old  Blucher  and  his  staff  came 
over  to  the  town  on  the  next  day — Sunday,  and  the 
Duke  sent  out  instantly  to  all  who  had  been  there  on 
the  preceding  evening  to  come  again  that  night  to 
meet  Blucher,  and  he  kept  making  everybody  dance 
to  the  last.  Amongst  others,  I  remember  his  bring- 
ing up  General  \illegible],  who  has  since  been  so 
conspicuous  in  France,  to  dance  with  Miss  Ord,  which 
he  did. 

"Some  short  time  before  the  battle  of  Waterloo — 
a  fortnight,  perhaps,  or  three  weeks — the  two  Miss 
Ords  and  myself  were  walking  in  the  Park  at  Brussells. 
When  opposite  the  Ambassador's  house  (now  the 
Prince  of  Orange's)  the  Duke  of  Wellington  and  Sir 
Charles  Stuart,  having  been  engaged  in  conversation, 
parted,  and  the  Duke  joined  us.  It  was  the  day  the 
papers  had  arrived  from  England,  bringing  the  debates 
in  Parliament  where  the  question  is  the  war.  So  he 
began  to  me  by  observing : — '  What  a  good  thing  it  is 
for  Ministers  that  Grattan  has  made  a  speech  in  favor 
of  the  war.' — To  which  I  replied  that  all  Ministers 
were  always  lucky  in  finding  some  unexpected  sup- 
port :  and  then  I  added  the  question  was  a  nice 
one. — *  A  question  of  expediency,'  said  the  Duke. — 
'Granted,'  I  replied,  *  quite ;  and  now  then,  will  you 
let  me  ask  you,  Duke,  what  you  think  you  will  make 
of  it  ?  '  He  stopt,  and  said  in  the  most  natural  manner  : 
— '  By  God !  I  think  Blucher  and  myself  can  do  the 
thing.' — '  Do  you  calculate,'  I  asked,  '  upon  any  deser- 
tion in  Buonaparte's  army?' — 'Not  upon  a  man,'  he 
said,  '  from  the  colonel  to  the  private  in  a  regiment — 
both  inclusive.  We  may  pick  up  a  marshal  or  two, 
perhaps  ;  but  not  worth  a  damn.' — *  Do  you  reckon,'  I 
asked,  '  upon  any  support  from  the  French  King's 
troops  at  Alost  ?  ' — *  Oh  ! '  said  he,  '  don't  mention  such 
fellows !  No  :  I  think  Blucher  and  I  can  do  the 
business.' — Then,  seeing  a  private  soldier  of  one  of 
our  infantry  regiments  enter  the  park,  gaping  about 
at  the  statues  and  images  : — 'There,'  he  said,  pointing 
at  the  soldier,  '  it  all  depends  upon  that  article  whether 
we  do  the  business  or  not.  Give  me  enough  of  it, 
and  I  am  sure.' 

"About   a  week   before   the   battle,  he   reviewed 


I8I4-I5-]     THE    DUCHESS    OF    RICHMOND'S    BALL.        229 

three  regiments  of  our  infantry,  and  three  Hanoverian 
ones,  in  the  AUee  Verte,  and  I  stood  in  conversation 
with  him  as  they  passed.  They  were  some  of  our 
best  regim.ents,  and  so  he  pronounced  them  to  be. 
As  the  Hanoverians  passed  he  said  : — 'Those  are  very 
good  troops  too,  or  will  be  so  when  I  get  good  officers 
into  them.' 

"  On  Wednesday  evening  the  14th  June,  having 
had  daily  rumours  of  the  approach  of  the  French,  I 
was  at  Lady  Conyngham's,  where  there  was  a  party, 
and  it  was  confidently  stated  that  the  French  had 
reached  or  crossed  the  frontier.  The  Duke  presently 
came  in  and  said  it  was  so.* 

"On  the  15th  there  was  a  ball  at  the  Duke  of 
Richmond's,  to  which  my  daughters,  the  Miss  Ords, 
and  their  brother  went  ;  but  I  stayed  at  home 
with  Mrs.  Creevey.  About  half-past  eleven  at 
night,  I  heard  a  great  knocking  at  houses  in  my 
street— la  Rue  du  Musee — ^just  out  of  the  Place 
Royale,  and  I  presently  found  out  the  troops  were 
in  motion,  and  by  12  o'clock  they  all  marched  off 
the  Place  Royale  up  the  Rue  Namur.  ...  I  sat  up,  of 
course,  till  my  daughters  and  their  brother  returned 
from  the  Duke  of  Richmond's,  which  they  did  about 
two  o'clock  or  half  after.  I  then  found  that  the 
Prussians  had  been  driven  out  of  Charleroi  and  other 
places  by  the  French,  and  that  all  our  army  had  been 
just  then  set  in  motion  to  meet  them.  '  The  Duke  had 
been  at  the  ball — had  received  his  intelligence  there, 
and  had  sent  off  his  different  orders.  There  had 
been  plenty  of  officers  at  the  ball,  and  some  tender 
scenes  had  taken  place  upon  the  ladies  parting  with 
them. 

"  I  saw  poor  Hamilton  t  that  night ;  he  came 
home  in  the  carriage  with  the  Miss  Ords  and  their 
brother. 

"On  Friday  the  i6th  the  Duke  and  his  staff  rode 
out   of  the   Namur   gate   about   ninc,t   and  we  were 

*  Napoleon  left  Paris  at  daybreak  on  12th  June.  On  the  14th  his 
headquarters  were  at  Beaumont,  about  16  miles  south  of  Charleroi,  but 
he  did  not  cross  the  frontier  till  the  morning  of  the  15th. 

t  His  step-son-in-law. 

X  Other  witnesses  say  8  a.m. 


230  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  X. 

without  any  news  the  best  part  of  the  day.  I  dined 
at  Mr.  Greathed's  in  the  Park.  ...  In  walking  there 
between  4  and  5,  poor  Charles  Ord  and  I  thought  we 
heard  the  sound  of  cannon ;  and  when  we  got  to 
Greathead's  we  found  everybody  on  the  rampart 
listening  to  it.  In  the  course  of  the  evening  the 
rampart  was  crowded  with  people  listening,  and  the 
sound  became  perfectly  distinct  and  regular.* 

"Just  before  we  sat  down  to  dinner,  Greathed 
saw  Col.  Canning,  one  of  the  Duke's  Aides-de-camps, 
walking  by  the  window,  and  he  called  him  up  to 
dine.  He  had  been  sent  by  the  Duke  on  a  mission 
to  the  French  King  at  Alost,  and  was  then  on 
his  return.  He  was  killed  two  days  afterwards  at 
Waterloo. 

"  In  the  evening — or  rather  at  night — Colonel 
Hamilton  rode  in  to  Brussells,  to  do  some  things  for 
General  Barnes,  and  to  see  us.  We  found  from  him 
that  the  firing  had  been  the  battle  of  Quatre-Bras. 
He  was  full  of  praises  of  our  troops,  who  had  fought 
under  every  disadvantage  of  having  marched  16  miles 
from  Brussells,  and  having  neither  cavalry  nor  artillery 
up  in  time  to  protect  them.f  He  was  full,  too,  of 
admiration  of  the  talent  of  Buonaparte  in  this  daring 
attempt  to  get  between  the  English  and  Prussian 
armies.  .  .  .  Hamilton  had  seen  the  Duke  of  Bruns- 
wick killed  at  the  head  of  his  Brunswickers,t  and 
represented  the  grief  of  these  soldiers  as  quite  affect- 
ing. Two  of  our  young  Brussells  officers  and  friends 
had  been  killed,  too,  in  the  action — Lord  Hay,  aide- 
de-camp  to  General  Maitland,  and  a  brother  of  Jack 
Smyth's.  Upon  one  occasion  during  the  day, 
Hamilton  stated,  Wellington  and  his  whole  staff  had 
been   very  nearly  taken   prisoners  by  some  French 

*  The  action  at  Quatre-Bras  began  about  3  p.m.  and  lasted  till 
9  o'clock. 

t  The  Allies  began  the  action  with  7000  infantry  and  16  guns. 
Van  Merlen's  horse,  1200  strong,  joined  them  before  5  o'clock,  but 
Lord  Uxbridge's  division  of  cavalry  halted  on  the  Mons-Brussels  road, 
through  a  mistake  in  their  orders. 

X  Their  black  uniform,  with  silver  death's-head  and  crossbones, 
commemorated  the  death  of  the  Duke's  father  at  the  head  of  his  Bruns- 
wicker  Hussars  at  Jena. 


I8I4-I5-]  THE   EVE   OF  WATERLOO.  231 

cavalry.*  .  .  .  Hamilton  returned  to  headquarters 
about  12  at  night. 

"On  Saturday  the  17th  I  remember  feeling  free 
from  much  alarm.  I  reasoned  with  myself  that  as 
our  troops  had  kept  their  ground  under  all  the 
unequal  circumstances  of  the  day  before,  surely  when 
all  the  Guards  and  other  troops  had  arrived  from  Ath 
and  Enghien,  with  all  the  cavalry,  artillery,  &c.,  they 
would  be  too  strong  for  the  French  even  venturing  to 
attack  again.  So  we  went  on  flattering  ourselves 
during  the  day,  especially  as  we  heard  no  firing. 
About  four  o'clock,  however,  the  Marquis  Juarenais  [?], 
who  I  always  found  knew  more  than  anybody  else, 
met  me  in  the  street  and  said  : — '  Your  army  is  in 
retreat  upon  Brussells,  and  the  French  in  pursuit.* 
He  quite  satisfied  me  that  he  knew  the  fact ;  and  not 
long  after,  the  baggage  of  the  army  was  coming  down 
the  Rue  de  Namur,  filling  up  my  street,  and  horses 
were  bivouacked  [picketed  ?]  all  round  the  park. 

"At  night  Hamilton  came  in  to  us  again,  and  we 
learnt  from  him  that  Buonaparte  had  beaten  Blucher 
so  completely  the  night  before  that  all  communication 
between  the  latter  and  Wellington  had  been  cut  off, 
and  that,  under  such  circumstances,  Wellington  had 
been  obliged  to  fall  back  and  take  up  another  position. 

"  It  was  now  clear  there  was  going  to  be  a 
desperate  battle.  Hamilton  said  so,  and  we  who 
knew  the  overflowing  ardent  mind,  as  well  as  the 
daring  nature,  of  his  General  (Barnes),  well  knew  the 
danger  his  life  would  be  exposed  to  next  day.  He 
returned  to  headquarters,  according  to  custom,  at 
midnight. 

"  Sunday,  June  the  i8th,  was  of  course  a  most 
anxious  day  with  us.  I  persuaded  poor  Charles  Ord 
to  go  that  day  to  England.      Between   11  and   12  I 

*  This  happened  just  after  the  Duke  of  Brunswick  fell.  The  Bruns- 
wick infantry  giving  way  before  a  charge  of  French  cavalry,  Wellington 
rode  up  with  the  Brunswick  Hussars  to  cover  them  ;  but  these  also 
fell  into  disorder  under  a  heavy  fire  of  musketry,  and  were  then  driven 
ofif  by  Pird's  Red  Lancers.  Wellington  galloped  off,  closely  pursued. 
Arriving  at  a  ditch  lined  by  the  Gordon  Highlanders,  he  called  out 
to  them  to  lie  still,  set  his  horse  at  the  fence,  and  cleared  it,  bayonets 
and  all. 


232  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  X. 

perceived  the  horses,  men,  carts  and  carriages  of  all 
description,  laden  with  baggage,  which  had  filled 
every  street  all  night,  had  received  orders  to  march, 
and  I  never  felt  more  anxiety  than  to  see  the  route 
they  took ;  for  had  they  taken  the  Antwerp  or  Ostend 
road,  I  shoul-d  have  concluded  we  were  not  to  keep 
our  ground.  They  all  went  up  the  Rue  de  Namur 
towards  the  army. 

"About  three  o'clock  I  walked  about  two  miles 
out  of  the  town  towards  the  army,  and  a  more 
curious,  busy  scene  it  was,  with  every  kind  of  thing 
upon  the  road,  the  Sunday  population  of  Brussells 
being  all  out  in  the  suburbs  out  of  the  Porte  Namur, 
sitting  about  tables  drinking  beer  and  smoking  and 
making  merry,  as  if  races  or  other  sports  were  going 
on,  instead  of  the  great  pitched  battle  which  was  then 
fighting. 

"  Upon  my  return  home  about  four,  I  had  scarcely 
got  into  my  own  room  to  dress  for  dinner,  when  Miss 
Elizabeth  Ord  came  running  into  the  room  saying : — 
*  For  God's  sake,  Mr.  Creevey,  come  into  the  drawing- 
room  to  my  mother  immediately.  The  French  arc  in 
the  toivn.' — 1  could  not  bring  myself  to  believe  that  to 
be  true,  and  I  said  so,  with  my  reasons  ;  but  I  said — 
'  Let  all  the  outside  blinds  be  put  to,  and  I  will  come 
in  an  instant.' — So  having  remained  five  or  ten 
minutes  in  the  drawing-room,  and  hearing  nothing, 
I  went  out ;  and  then  1  found  the  alarm  had  been 
occasioned  by  the  flight  of  a  German  regiment  of 
cavalry,  the  Cumberland  Hussars,  who  had  quitted 
the  field  of  battle,  galloping  through  the  forest  of 
Soignes,  entering  the  Porte  Namur,  and  going  full 
speed  dov/n  the  Rue  de  Namur  and  thro'  the  Place 
Royale,  crying  out  the  French  were  at  their  heels. 
The  confusion  and  mischief  occasioned  by  these 
fellows  on  the  road  were  incredible,  but  in  the  town 
all  was  quiet  again  in  an  instant. 

"  I  then  sat  down  to  dinner,  in  the  middle  of  which 
I  heard  a  very  considerable  shouting  near  me.  Jump- 
ing up  to  the  window  which  commanded  the  lower 
part  of  the  Rue  de  Namur,  I  saw  a  detachment  of  our 
Horse  Guards  escorting  a  considerable  body  of 
French  prisoners,  and  could  distinctly  recognise  one 
or     two    eagles.      I    went    into    the    Place     Royale 


iSi4-i5-]  THE    EIGHTEENTH    OF   JUNE,  233 

immediately  to  see  them  pass,  and  then  returned  to  my 
dinner.  Their  number  was  said  to  be  1500.  In  half 
an  hour  more  I  heard  fresh  shouting,  and  this  proved 
to  be  another  arrival  of  French  prisoners,  greater  in 
amount — it  was  said  5000  in  all  had  arrived. 

"  About  this  time,  in  looking  out  of  my  window  I 
saw  Mr.  Legh,  of  Lyme,  M.P.  for  Newton,*  arrive  on 
horseback  at  his  lodgings,  which  were  next  to  my 
house;  and  finding  that  he  had  been  looking  at  the 
battle,  or  very  near  it,  I  rejoiced  with  him  upon 
things  looking  so  well,  which  I  conceived  to  be  the 
case  from  the  recent  arrivals  of  prisoners.  My  sur- 
prise, therefore,  was  by  no  means  small  when  he 
replied  that  he  did  not  agree  with  me  :  that  from  his 
own  observation  he  thought  overything  looked  as 
bad  as  possible  ;  in  short,  that  he  thought  so  badly  of 
it  that  he  should  not  send  his  horses  to  the  stable, 
but  keep  them  at  his  door  in  case  of  accidents 

"After  this  1  went  out  to  call  on  the  Marquis 
Juarenais  in  the  Park,  to  collect  from  him  what  news 
I  could;  and  in  passing  the  corner  of  the  Hotel  Belle- 
vue  I  came  in  contact  with  one  of  our  Life  Guards — 
a  soldier  who  had  just  come  in.  I  asked  him  how  he 
thought  the  battle  was  going  when  he  left  the  field  ; 
upon  which,  after  turning  round  apparently  to  see  if 
anybody  could  hear  him,  he  said : — '  Why,  sir,  I  don't 
like  the  appearance  of  things  at  all.  The  French  are 
getting  on  in  such  a  manner  that  I  don't  see  what's  to 
stop  them.' 

"I  then  got  to  Juarenais's,  and  was  shown  into 
a  drawing-room,  in  the  middle  of  which  I  saw  a 
wounded  officer  of  our  Foot  Guards  (Griffiths,  his 
name  was,  I  knew  afterwards)  sitting  in  apparently 
great  pain  —  a  corporal  on  one  side  picking  his 
epaulet  out  of  the  wound,  and  Madame  de  Juarenais 
holding  a  smelling-bottle  under  his  nose.  I  just 
heard  the  officer  apologise  to  Madame  de  Juarenais  for 
the  trouble  he  was  giving  her,  observing  at  the  time 
that  he  would  not  be  long  with  them,  as  the  French 
would  be  in  that  night,  and  then  he  fainted  away. 

"  In  going  out  of  the  drawing-room  into  the 
balcony  commanding  the  Park,  the  first  thing  I  saw 

*  Grandfather  of  the  present  Lord  Newton. 


234  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.        [Ch.  X. 

was  General  Barnes's  chaise  and  four  going  as  fast 
as  it  could  from  his  own  house  in  the  Park  towards 
the  Porte  Namur  and,  of  course,  the  field  of  battle  ; 
upon  which  I  went  immediately  to  Barnes's  to  see 
what  intelligence  I  could  pick  up  there ;  when  I  found 
a  foreign  officer  of  his  staff"  —  I  forget  his  name  — 
who  had  just  arrived,  and  had  sent  off  the  General's 
carriage.  His  information  was  that  General  Barnes 
was  very  badly  wounded  —  that  Captain  [illegible] 
Erskine  of  his  staff"  had  lost  an  arm  —  that  Major 
Hamilton  *  was  wounded  but  not  severely,  and  that 
he  thought  everything  was  going  as  badly  as  possible. 

"  With  this  intelligence  I  returned  to  Mrs.  Creevey 
and  my  daughters  between  8  and  9,  but  I  did  not 
mention  a  word  of  what  I  had  heard,  there  being  no 
use  in  my  so  doing.  About  ten  o'clock,  however,  or 
between  that  and  11,  Hamilton  entered  the  room,  and 
then  the  ladies  and  myself  heard  from  him  that  Genl. 
Barnes  had  been  shot  through  the  body  by  a  musquet 
ball  about  5  o'clock — that  his  horse  having  just  previ- 
ously been  killed  under  him,  the  general  was  on  foot 
at  the  time — that  Hamilton  and  the  orderly  sergeant 
had  put  him  immediately  upon  Hamilton's  horse,  and 
that  in  this  manner,  one  on  each  side,  they  had  walked 
these  12  miles  to  Bruxelles,  tho'  Hamilton  had  been 
wounded  both  in  the  head  and  in  one  foot.  Observe — the 
road  had  been  so  choaked  by  carts  and  carriages  being 
overturned  when  the  German  regiment!  ran  away, 
that  no  carriage  could  pass  that  way  for  some  time. 

"  Well — Hamilton  had  put  his  general  to  bed,  and 
was  then  come  to  give  us  the  opinion,  both  of  the 
general  and  himself,  that  the  battle  was  lost,  and  that 
we  had  no  time  to  lose  in  getting  away.  Hamilton 
said  he  would  immediately  procure  horses,  carriages 
or  anything  else  for  taking  us  from  Bruxelles.  After  a 
very  short  consultation,  however,  with  Mrs.  Creevey, 
under  all  the  circumstances  of  her  ill  health  and  help- 
lessness, and  the  confusion  of  flying  from  an  arrny  in 
the  night,  we  determined  to  remain,  and  Hamilton 
returned  to  his  general. 

"  The  young  ladies  lay  down  upon  their  beds 
without  undressing.     I  got  into   my  own,  and   slept 

*  Mr.  Creevey's  son-in-law.  f  The  Cumberland  Hussars. 


I8I4-I5-]  NEWS    OF   VICTORY.  235 

soundly  till  4  o'clock,  when,  upon  waking,  I  went 
instantly  to  the  front  windows  to  see  what  was  pass- 
ing in  the  Rue  Namur,  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  see- 
ing baggage,  soldiers,  &c.,  still  moving  up  the  street, 
and  towards  the  field  of  battle,  which  I  could  not 
but  consider  as  very  favorable.  Having  dressed  and 
loitered  about  till  near  six,  I  then  went  to  the  Marquis 
Juarenais's,  in  pursuit  of  news  ;  and,  upon  the  great 
court  gate  being  opened  to  me,  the  first  person  I 
saw  was  Madame  de  Juarenais,  walking  about  in  de- 
shabille amidst  a  great  bivouack  of  horses.  She  told 
me  immediately  that  the  French  were  defeated  and 
had  fled  in  great  confusion.  I  expressed  so  much 
surprise  at  this,  that  she  said  I  should  learn  it  from 
Monr.  Juarenais  himself;  so  she  took  me  up  to  his 
bed,  where  he  was  fast  asleep.  When  he  woke  and 
saw  me  by  his  bedside  in  doubt  about  the  truth  of 
the  good  news,  he  almost  began  to  doubt  himself; 
but  then  he  recollected,  and  it  was  all  quite  right. 
General  Sir  Charles  Alten,  who  commanded  the 
Hanoverians,  had  been  brought  in  to  Juarenais's  late 
at  night,  very  badly  wounded  ;  but  had  left  particular 
orders  with  his  staff  to  bring  or  send  the  earliest 
accounts  of  the  result.  Accordingly,  one  of  his  officers 
who  had  been  on  the  field  about  8  o'clock,  when  the 
French  had  given  way,  and  who  had  gone  on  with  the 
Duke  in  the  pursuit  as  far  as  Nivelles,*  had  brought  all 
this  intelligence  to  Alten  at  Juarenais's  about  3  o'clock, 

"  I  went  in  the  first  place  from  Juarenais's  to 
General  Barnes's ;  where,  having  entered  his  bed- 
room, I  found  him  lying  in  bed,  his  wound  just 
dressed,  and  Hamilton  by  his  side ;  and  when  I  told 
him  the  battle  was  won  (which  he  did  not  know 
before),  and  how  I  knew  it,  he  said :  — '  There, 
Hamilton,  did  not  I  say  it  was  either  so  or  a  drawn 
battle,  as  the  French  ought  to  have  been  here  before 
now  if  they  had  won.  1  have  just  sent  old  [^illegible'] 
(one  of  his  staff)  up  to  headquarters  for  news.' 

"I  then  returned  directly  home,  and  of  course  we 
were  all  not  a  little  delighted  at  our  escape. 

"About  eleven  o'clock,   upon    going   out  again,  I 

*  Wellington  did  not  follow  as  far  as  Nivelles,  but  handed  over  the 
pursuit  to  BUicher  at  La  Belle  .A.lliance. 


236  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  X. 

heard  a  report  that  the  Duke  was  in  Bruxellcs ;  and 
I  went  from  curiosity  to  see  whether  there  was  any 
appearance  of  him  or  any  of  his  staff  at  his  residence 
in  the  Park,  As  I  approached,  I  saw  people  collected  in 
the  street  about  the  house;  and  when  I  got  amongst 
them,  the  first  thing  I  saw  was  the  Duke  upstairs 
alone  at  his  window.  Upon  his  recognising  me,  he  im- 
mediately beckoned  to  me  with  his  finger  to  come  up,* 
"  I  met  Lord  Arthur  Hill  in  the  ante-room  below, 
who,  after  shaking  hands  and  congratulation,  told  me 
I  could  not  go  up  to  the  Duke,  as  he  was  then  occu- 
pied in  writing  his  dispatch ;  but  as  I  had  been  in- 
vited, I  of  course  proceeded.  The  first  thing  I  did, 
of  course,  was  to  put  out  my  hand  and  congratulate 
him  [the  Duke]  upon  his  victory.  He  made  a  variety 
of  observations  in  his  short,  natural,  blunt  way,  but 
with  the  greatest  gravity  all  the  time,  and  without 
the  least  approach  to  anything  like  triumph  or  joy, 
— '  It  has  been  a  damned  serious  business,'  he  said. 
'  Bliicher  and  I  have  lost  30,000  men.  It  has  been  a 
damned  nice  thing — the  nearest  run  thing  you  ever 
saw  in  your  life,  Bliicher  lost  14,000  on  Friday 
night, t  and  got  so  damnably  licked  I  could  not  find 
him  on  Saturday  morning;  so  I  was  obliged  to  fall 
back  to  keep  up  [regain  ?]  my  communications  with 
him,':{: — Then,  as  he  walked  about,  he  praised  greatly 

*  It  may  seem  improbable  that  the  Duke  should  have  made  him- 
self so  accessible  to  a  mere  civilian  on  such  a  momentous  morning  ; 
but  there  is  ample  confirmation  of  Mr.  Creevey's  narrative  from  the 
Duke's  own  lips.  In  1836  he  described  the  circumstance  to  Lady 
Salisbury,  who  noted  it  in  her  journal  (unpublished)  as  follows  : — 

"  '  I  was  called,'  said  the  Duke,  '  about  3  in  the  morning  by  Hume 
to  go  and  see  poor  Gordon '  (in  the  same  inn  at  Waterloo),  '  but  he 
was  dead  before  I  got  there.  Then  I  came  back,  had  a  cup  of  tea  and 
some  toast,  wrote  my  dispatch,  and  then  rode  into  Brussels.  At  the 
door  of  my  own  hotel  I  met  Creevey  :  they  had  no  certain  accounts 
at  Brussels,  and  he  called  out  to  me  : — "  What  news  ? "  I  said  : — 
"  Why  I  think  we've  done  for  'em  this  time."  '  " 

The  dispatch  was  begun  at  Waterloo  and  finished  at  Brussels, 
evidence  of  which  remains  in  the  draft  of  the  original  now  at  Apsley 
House,  which  is  headed  first  "  Waterloo  ;  "  that  is  struck  out  and 
"  Bruxelles  "  substituted. 

t  At  Ligny. 

X  Napoleon  had  detached  the  column  of  Marechal  Grouchy,  34,000 
men  with  96  guns,  on  the  17th  to  pursue  the  Prussians  to  Namur. 


1814-15-]      CONVERSATION   VVITH   THE   DUKE.  ILZ'] 

those  Guards  who  kept  the  farm  (meaning  Hugo- 
mont)  against  the  repeated  attacks  of  the  French  ; 
and  then  he  praised  all  our  troops,  uttering  repeated 
expressions  of  astonishment  at  our  men's  courage. 
He  repeated  so  often  its  being  so  nice  a  thing — so 
nearly  fini  a  thing,  that  I  asked  him  if  the  P>ench 
had  fought  better  than  he  had  ever  seen  them  do 
before. — *  No,'  he  said,  '  they  have  always  fought  the 
same  since  I  first  saw  them  at  Vimeira.'*  Then  he 
said: — 'By  God!  I  don't  think  it  would  have  done  if 
I  had  not  been  there.'  t 

"When  I  left  the  Duke,  I  went  instantly  home  and 
wrote  to  England  by  the  same  courier  who  carried 
his  dispatch,  I  sent  the  very  conversation  I  have 
just  related  to  Bennett  I  think,  however,  I  omitted 
the  Duke's  observation  that  he  did  not  think  the 
battle  would  have  been  won  had  he  not  been  there, 
and  I  remember  my  reason  for  omitting  this  sentence. 
It  did  not  seem  fair  to  the  Duke  to  state  it  without 
full  explanation.  There  was  nothing  like  vanity  in 
the  observation  in  the  way  he  made  it.  I  considered 
it  only  as  meaning  that  the  battle  was  so  hardly  and 
equally  fought  that  nothing  but  confidence  of  our 
army  in  himself  as  their  general  could  have  brought 
them  thro'.  Now  that  seven  years  have  elapsed  since 
that  battle,  and  tho'  the  Duke  has  become — very 
foolishly,  in  my  opinion — a  politician,  and  has  done 
many  wrong  and  foolish  things  since  that  time,  3'et  I 
think  of  his  conversation  and  whole  conduct  on  the 
19th — the  day  after  the  battle — exactly  the  same  as  I 
did  then  :  namely — that  nothing  could  do  a  conqueror 
more  honor  than  his  gravity  and  seriousness  at  the 
loss  of  lives  he  had  sustained,  his  admission  of  his 
great  danger,  and  the  justice  he  did  his  enemy. 

"  I  may  add  that,  before  I  left  him,  I  asked  whether 
he  thought  the  French  would  be  able  to  take  the  field 
again ;  and  he  said  he  thought  certainly  not,  giving  as 
his  reason  that  every  corps  of  France,  but  one,  had 

*  In  1808. 

t  Captain  Gronow,  to  whom  Creevey  gave  an  account  of  this 
interview,  remarks  :  "  I  do  not  pretend  to  say  what  the  Duke  meant 
in  his  conversation  with  Mr.  Creevey,  who  was  truth  itself"  [Remi- 
niscotces,  vol.  i.  212]. 

X  Hon.  II.  G.  Bcnnct,  M.P...  2nd  son  of  the  4lh  Earl  of  Tankcrvillo 


238  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.        [Ch.  X. 

been  in  the  battle,  and  that  the  whole  army  had  gone 
off  in  such  perfect  rout  and  confusion  he  thought  it 
quite  impossible  for  them  to  give  battle  again  before 
the  Allies  reached  Paris, 

"  On  Tuesday  the  20th,  the  day  after  this  conver- 
sation with  the  Duke,  Barnes  and  Hamilton  would 
make  me  ride  over  to  see  the  field  of  battle,  which  I 
would  willingly  have  declined,  understanding  all  the 
French  dead  were  still  on  the  field — unburied,  and 
having  no  one  to  instruct  me  in  detail  as  to  what  had 
passed — I  mean  as  to  the  relative  positions  of  the 
armies,  &c.  However,  I  was  mounted,  and  as  I  was 
riding  along  with  Hamilton's  groom  behind  me  about 
a  mile  and  a  half  on  the  Brussells  side  of  the  village  of 
Waterloo,  who  should  overtake  me  but  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  in  his  curricle,  in  his  plain  cloaths  and 
Harvey  by  his  side  in  his  regimentals.  So  we  went 
on  together,  and  he  said  as  he  was  to  stop  at  Waterloo 
to  see  Frederick  Ponsonby  and  de  Lancey,  Harvey 
should  go  with  me  and  shew  me  the  field  of  battle, 
and  all  about  it.  When  we  got  to  Waterloo  village, 
we  found  others  of  his  staff  there,  and  it  ended  in 
Lord  Arthur  Hill  being  my  guide  over  every  part  of 
the  ground. 

"  My  great  surprise  was  at  not  being  more  horrified 
at  the  sight  of  such  a  mass  of  dead  bodies.  On  the 
left  of  the  road  going  from  Waterloo  to  Mont  St. 
Jean,  and  just  close  up  to  within  a  yard  or  two  of  a 
small  ragged  hedge  which  was  our  own  line,  the 
French  lay  as  if  they  had  been  mowed  down  in  a  row 
without  any  interval.*  It  was  a  distressing  sight,  no 
doubt,  to  see  every  now  and  then  a  man  alive 
amongst  them,  and  calling  out  to  Lord  Arthur  to  give 
them  something  to  drink.  It  so  happened  Lord 
Arthur  had  some  weak  brandy  and  water  in  his 
holster,  and  he  dismounted  to  give  some  to  the 
wounded  soldiers.  It  was  a  curious  thing  to  see  on 
each  occasion  the  moderation  with  which  the  soldier 
drank,  and  his  marked  good  manners.  They  all 
ended  by  saying  to  Lord  Arthu?': — 'Mon  general, 
vous   etes   bien  honnete.'     One   case  in  particular  I 

*  Where  Picton's  5th  Division  repulsed  d'Erlon's  corps  in  the 
morning.     The  ragged  hedge  has  now  disappeared. 


iSi4-i5-]  CLOSE    OF   THE   CAMPAIGN.  239 

remember,  on  the  other  side  of  the  road  near  the  farm 
at  Hugomont,  a  remarkably  fine-looking  man  reared 
himself  up  from  amongst  the  surrounding  dead.  His 
aiguilette  streaming  down  his  arm,  Lord  Arthur 
asked  him  if  he  was  an  officer,  to  which  he  replied  no, 
but  a  sergeant  of  the  Imperial  Guard.  Lord  Arthur, 
having  given  him  some  drink,  said  he  would  look 
about  for  some  conveyance  to  carry  him  off  (his  thigh 
being  broken),  and  apologised  for  its  not  being  sooner 
done,  on  account  of  the  numbers  of  our  own  men  we 
had  to  take  care  of.  The  Frenchman  said  in  the  best 
manner  possible: — 'O  mon  general,  vous  etes  bien 
honnete  :  apres  les  Allies.' 

"  I  rode  home  with  Hume  the  physician  at  head 
quarters,  v/ho  said  there  were  14,000  dead  on  the 
field  ;  and  upon  my  expressing  regret  at  the  wounded 
people  being  still  out,  he  replied : — 'The  two  nights 
they  have  been  out  is  all  in  their  favor,  provided 
they  are  now  got  into  hospitals.  They  will  have  a 
better  chance  of  escaping  fever  this  hot  weather  than 
our  own  people  who  have  been  carried  into  hospitals 
the  first.'" 

Lord  Arthur  Hill  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Mons,  25th  June,  1815. 

"  Dear  Creevey, 

"  The  King  entered  Le  Cateau  yesterday  and 
was  very  well  received.  I  was  sent  off  from  thence 
here  with  letters  from  the  Duke  to  Talleyrand,  who 
is  here,  with  the  news  that  Nap  had  abdicated  in 
favor  of  his  son.  There  is  a  provisional  government 
formed.  I  don't  suppose  we  shall  have  any  more 
fighting.  Hd.  quarters  advanced  to-day  however,  but 
I  don't  know  where  to.  1  shan't  be  able  to  reach 
them  to-night — roads  horrible.  Cambray  was  taken 
last  night  by  storm  :  the  Governor  still  in  the  Citadel 
— can't  last.  Inhabitants  illuminated  and  received  our 
troops  with  joy — Genl.  Colvill's  brigade.  Let  me  hear 
of  Harris  and  other  wounded. 

"Yours, 

"Arthur  Hill. 

"  My  wounded  mare  is  in  the  Duke's  stable  under 
care  of  Percy's  servant.     Will  you  visit  her?" 


(      240      ) 


CHAPTER  XI. 

1815-1816. 

After  the  stern  realities  of  war,  home  politics  and 
social  gossip  read  flat  enough.  The  crowning  victory 
of  Waterloo  brought  no  strength  to  the  Opposition. 
There  were  troubles  enough  ahead  for  the  Govern- 
ment, arising  out  of  the  fall  in  prices  consequent  on 
the  peace  and  the  thousands  of  idle  hands  thrown 
on  the  labour  market  following  on  reduction  of  the 
forces ;  but,  meanwhile,  the  country  was  aglow  with 
enthusiasm  for  the  Government  and  the  army.  It 
was  when  their  prospects  were  at  the  lowest  that 
the  Liberals  received  a  cruel  blow  in  the  suicide  of 
one  of  their  chief  representatives  in  the  Commons, 
Mr.  Samuel  Whitbread. 

Hon,  H.  Beund,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Crccvcy  \_at  Brussels]. 

•' Whitehall,  July,  1S15. 

".  .  .  Nothing  could  be  more  droll  than  the  dis- 
comfiture of  our  politicians  at  Brooks's.  The  night 
the  news  of  the  battle  of  Waterloo  arrived.  Sir  Rt. 
Wilson  and  Grey  demonstrated  satisfactorily  to  a 
crowded  audience  that  Boney  had  200,000  men  across 
Sambre,  and  that  he  must  then  be  at  Brussels.  Wilson 
read  a  letter  announcing  that  the  English  were  defiling 
out  of  the  town  by  the  Antwerp  gate  ;  when  the  shouts 
in  the  street  drew  us  to  the  window,  and  we  saw  the 


i8is-i6.]  DEATH   OF  WHITBREAD.  241 

chaise  and  the  Eagles.  To  be  sure,  we  are  good  people, 
but  sorry  prophets !  The  only  consolation  I  have  is 
in  peace,  and  that  we  shall  have,  and  have  time,  too, 
to  look  about  us,  and  amend  our  system  at  home,  and 
damage  royalty,  and  badger  Prinny.  I  will  venture 
to  say  he  will  long  again  for  war  abroad,  as  we  will 
give  him  enough  of  it  at  home  in  the  H.  of  Commons, 
so  I  beg  you  will  be  preparing  for  battle  in  the  ensuing 
campaign.  Peace  we  are  hourly  expecting.  The 
[illegible]  want  to  stop  the  French  frontier,  [illcgible~\ 
to  pillage  Paris,  and  the  ladies  of  the  fashionable  world 
to  massacre  its  inhabitants,  I  assure  you  we  are 
very  bloody  in  this  town,  and  people  talk  of  making 
great  examples,  as  if  the  French  had  not  the  right 
to  have,  independent  of  us,  what  government  they 
liked  best, 

"You  will  be  sorry  to  hear  that  Sam  [Whitbread] 
looks  and  is  very  ill.  He  has  lost  all  spirits,  and 
cannot  speak,  I  hear  he  vexes  himself  to  death  about 
Drury  Lane,  I  am  told  a  bill  is  filed  against  him  by 
the  [illegible']  to  the  tune  of  ^25,000,  ,  ,  .  I  hope  it  is 
Drury  Lane  and  not  bad  health  that  destroys  his 
spirits." 

"  Whitehall,  July  7. 
"  My  dear  Creevey, 

"  It  is  with  a  heavy  heart  that  I  write  to  tell 
you  that  you  have  lost  your  friend  Whitbread ;  and 
though  I  hardl}^  know  how  to  name  it,  yet  1  must  add 
that  he  destroyed  himself  in  a  paroxysm  of  derange- 
ment from  the  aneurism  in  the  brain.  He  had  been 
for  the  last  month  in  a  low  and  irritable  state.  The 
damned  theatre  and  all  its  concerns,  the  vexatious 
opposition  he  met  with,  and  the  state  of  worry  in 
which  he  was  left — all  conspired  together  to  [illegible] 
his  understanding  as  to  lead  to  this  fatal  step.  On 
Wednesday  night  the  5th  I  had  a  note  from  him  written 
in  his  own  hand,  and  as  usual.  He  spoke  on  Tuesday 
in  the  H.  of  Commons  more  in  his  usual  style  than  of 
late.  .  .  .  On  Wednesday  he  passed  all  the  evening 
with  Burgess  the  solicitor,  discussing  the  theatre 
concerns — walking  up  and  down  the  room  in  great 
agitation,  accusing  himself  of  being  the  ruin  of  thou- 
sands.    As  you  may  well  imagine,  he  did  not  sleep, 


242  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XL 

but  got  up  early  on  Thursday  in  a  heated  and  flurried 
state — sat  down  to  dress  after  breakfast  about  lo,  and, 
while  Wear  was  out  of  the  room,  cut  his  throat  with 
a  razor.  When  Wear  returned,  he  found  him  quite 
dead.  Is  it  necessary  to  say  what  the  blow  Us  to  us 
all?  To  lose  him  in  any  way,  at  the  maturest  age, 
would  have  been  a  cruel  loss,  but  in  this  manner — one 
feels  so  overpowered  and  broken  down  that  the  thing 
seems  to  be  but  a  frightful  dream.  To  me,  the  loss 
is  greater  than  that  of  Fox,  for  the  active,  unwearied 
benevolence — both  public  and  private — of  our  poor 
friend  surpassed  all  the  exertions  of  any  one  we  ever 
knew.  He  lived  but  for  mankind — not  in  showy 
speeches  and  mental  exertions  alone,  but  there  was 
not  a  poor  one  or  oppressed  being  in  the  world  that 
he  did  not  consider  Whitbread  as  his  benefactor.  .  .  . 
I  never  heard  of  his  equal,  and  he  was  by  far  the  most 
honest  public  and  private  man  I  ever  knew.  .  .  ." 

"July  II. 

"...  I  am  not  astonished  at  Grey's  losing  his  heart, 
as  this  day  he  is  to  attend  SirW.  Ponsonby's*  funeral, 
and  at  night  he  is  to  go  down  to  Southill  to  attend  our 
poor  friend's  to-morrow.  ..." 

"1 2th. 

"...  I  delay  sending  this  to  say  that  Tavistock 
moved  yesterday  the  writ  in  the  most  perfect  and 
\illegible\  manner :  there  was  not  a  dry  eye  in  the 
House.  Wilberforce  said  he  always  considered  Whit- 
bread as  the  true  \illegihlc],  possessing  all  the  virtues 
of  the  character,  tho'  with  its  foibles,  and  that  he  was 
one  of  the  public  treasures.  Vansittart  deeply  regretted 
his  loss,  and  allowed  that,  when  most  in  opposition  to 
them,  he  was  always  manly,  honest,  [illegible]  and  true, 
and  that  he  was  an  ornament  to  his  country.  Thus 
ended  the  saddest  day  I  have  yet  seen  in  the  House 
of  Commons.  Tierney  sobbed  so,  he  was  unable  to 
speak;  I  never  saw  a  more  affecting  scene.  .  .  ." 

*  Major-General  the  Hon.  Sir  WilHam  Ponsonby  [1772-18 15] 
commanded  the  "  Union  "  brigade  of  heavy  cavalry  at  Waterloo,  and 
was  killed  in  their  famous  charge  upon  d'Erlon's  column. 


s\Mri''.i.  win  riiui-: Ai). 


\Tofacc p.  242. 


i3i5-i6.]     MISFORTUNES    OF   THE   OPPOSITION.  243 

Henry  Brougham  to  Mr.  Creevey  [at  Brussels]. 

"Friday,  July  14,  1815. 

"  The  message  I  sent  you  by  C.  Grey  three  weeks 
ago  must  have  prepared  you  for  this  dreadful  calamity 
which  has  befallen  us,  though  nothing  could  reconcile 
you  to  it.  Indeed  one  feels  it  more,  if  possible,  as  a 
private  than  a  publick  loss,  ...  It  seems  as  if  the 
Opposition  lay  under  a  curse  at  this  time — not  merely 
politically,  but  physically.  Romilly  last  winter  was 
oled  out  of  a  violent  inflammation  of  the  lungs,  and  I 
think  him  damaged  by  it,  next  winter  will  show  whether 
permanently  or  not,  but  at  58  such  things  are  not  safe, 
and  he  continues  to  work  as  hard  as  ever.*  Ossulstone 
has  been  most  dangerously  ill.  .  .  .  The  anxiety  and 
labour  Grey  has  lately  had  make  one  fear  a  severe 
attack  of  his  spasms — indeed  he  had  one  a  few  nights 
ago,  having  been  on  Monday  at  Sir  W.  Ponsonby's 
funeral,  and  having  to  set  off  for  Whitbread's  at  4  the 
next  morning.  The  attack  was  in  the  night,  and  he 
went  notwithstanding. 

"  I  hardly  can  venture  to  mention  myself  after  these 
cases,  but  I  have  been  very  ill  for  4  or  5  months,  hardly 
able  to  go  through  common  business,  and  now  forced 
to  give  up  the  circuit.  ...  1  can  only  give  you  a  notion 
how  much  I  am  altered  by  saying  that  I  have  not  made 
such  an  exertion  in  writing  for  three  months  as  this 
letter  is,  and  that  I  already  aclic  all  over  with  it.  .  .  . 
To  continue  my  catalogue,  Lord  Thanet  has  been 
alarmingly  ill,  tho'  now  somewhat  better;  and  such 
dismal  accounts  of  the  Hollands  are  daily  arriving 
that  one  of  my  chief  reasons  for  writing  to  you  now 
is  to  ask  you  how  the  poor  boy  is.  .  .  .  In  this  state 
of  affairs  and  of  my  own  health,  when  there  seems 
nothing  to  be  done,  and  when,  if  there  were,  I  am  not 
the  man  now  to  do  it,  you  will  marvel  at  my  coming 
into  Parlt,  which  I  have  been  overpersuaded  to  do, 
and  which  will  have  happened  almost  as  soon  as  you 
receive  this.t     The  usual  and  unchangeable  friendship 

*  He  committed  suicide  in  1818. 

t  Brougiiam  remained  out  of  Parliament  after  his  defeat  at  Liverpool 
in  1812,  until  returned  for  Winchelsea,  a  borough  of  Lord  Darlington's, 
in  1 8 16. 


244  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.        [Ch.  XI. 

of  Ld.  G[rey]  obtained  the  seat,  but  I  am  not  at  all 
satisfied  that  I  have  done  wisely  in  accepting  it,  for 
the  reasons  just  hinted  at.  All  I  can  say  to  myself  is 
that  I  may  recover  and  be  again  fit  for  service,  in  which 
case  I  should  think  myself  unjustifiable  had  1  decided 
the  other  way.  But  20  years  hard  work  have  produced 
their  effect,  I  much  fear,  and  left  little  or  nothing  in 
me.  .  .  ." 


Lord  Ossiilstou,  M.P.*  to  Mr.  Crccvey  in  Brussels. 

"  Walton,  July  31,  1815. 

".  .  .  Buonaparte  still  remains  at  Plymouth,  but  it 
is  expected  that  the  ship  which  is  to  convey  him  will 
sail  very  shortly.  I  believe  he  is  allowed  to  take  3 
persons  (besides  servants)  with  him,  excepting  those 
who  are  named  in  the  list  of  proscribed.  The  general 
feeling,  I  think,  here  is  that  he  ought  to  be  placed  out 
of  the  reach  of  again  interfering  in  the  concerns  of  the 
world,  tho'  it  is  difficult  not  to  feel  for  a  man  who  has 
played  such  a  part,  if  he  is  destined  to  end  his  days  in 
such  a  place  as  St.  Helena.  Seeing  the  other  day  a 
list  of  intimate  friends  invited  to  meet  the  P.  Regent 
at  Melbourne  House — viz.  Jack  Manners,  Ld.  Fife,  Ld. 
Headfort,  &c.,  I  could  not  help  thinking  what  a  strange 
fortune  it  was  by  which  Buonaparte  shd.  be  at  that 
moment  at  Torbay,  waiting  his  destiny  at  the  Prince's 
hands.  .  .  .  Kinnaird  is  in  town.  His  account  of  his 
arrest  by  Buonaparte  is  that,  hearing  of  the  battle  of 
Waterloo,  he  had  said  in  society — 'Now  the  French 
have  nothing  to  do  but  to  send  for  the  D.  of  Orleans  ;' 
which  being  reported  to  Buonaparte  on  his  return,  he 
sent  to  Kinnaird  to  quit  Paris  in  2  hours,  and  France 
in  2  days.  Kinnaird  upon  this  asked  leave  to  go  to 
Fouche,  who  told  him  not  to  stir,  for  that  in  two  hours 
he  would  hear  something  which  wd.  surprise  them — • 
that  was  Buonaparte's  abdication.  .  .  .  Whitbread's 
eldest  son  comes  into  not  less  than  ;^ 20,000  per  ann. 
— so  Brougham  told  me.  Whitbread,  however,  in  the 
last  year  had  outrun  his  income  by  ;^  14,000 — probably 
the  theatre.  .  .  ." 

*  Afterwards  5th  Earl  of  Tankerville. 


1815-16.]  THE   DUKEDOM   OF   NORFOLK,  245 


Henry  Brougham  to  Mr.  Crccvcy. 

"London,  Nov.  7,  18 15. 

".  .  .  What  chiefly  moves  me  to  write  is  some 
conversation  that  Ossulston  *  and  I  have  had  con- 
cerning the  state  of  the  Party  in  one  material  point. 
The  Jockey  t  is  gone — you  may  lay  that  down.  It  is 
a  question  between  days  and  weeks,  and  he  cannot 
possibly  see  the  meeting  of  Parlt.  Baillie  says  if 
things  go  favorably  he  may  last  six  weeks,  but  that 
he  won't  insure  him  for  ten  days.  In  short,  it  is  a 
done  thing. 

"  Now  upon  your  friend  B[ernard]  Howard's 
succession  to  this  most  important  publick  trust  (for 
so  I  consider  it),  it  is  plain  beyond  all  doubt  that  old 
Mother  Stafford  |  will  be  working  by  every  means  to 
touch  him — at  all  events  to  neutralize  him.  She  will 
make  the  young  one  §  turn  Protestant — a  most  im- 
proper thing  in  his  station ;  for  surely  his  feeling 
should  be — '  I  zvill  be  in  Parlt.,  but  it  shall  be  by  force 
of  the  Catholic  emancipation  ;' and,  viewing  this  as  a 
personal  matter  to  himself,  he  should  shape  his 
political  conduct  mainly  with  reference  to  it.  But  I 
fear  that  is  past  praying  for,  and  all  we  can  hope  is 
that  the  excellent  father  should  remain  as  steady  in 
his  politics  as  he  is:  sure  to  be  in  his  adherence  to  his 
sect.  .  .  .  Now  what  strikes  both  O.  and  myself  is — 
that  at  such  a  critical  moment  your  friendly  advice 
might  be  of  most  material  use  towards  keeping  the 
newcomer  on  his  guard  against  the  innumerable  traps 
and  wiles  by  which  he  will  assuredly  be  beset,  and  if 
you  intend  (which  of  course  you  do)  to  come  over 
this  session,  perhaps  it  would  be  adviseable  to  come 


*  Afterwards  5th  Earl  of  Tankervillc. 

t  Eleventh  Duke  of  Norfolk. 

X  Wife  of  the  2nd  Marquess  of  Stafford,  wlio  was  created  Duke  of 
Sutherland  in  1833,  she  having  been  Countess  of  Sutherland  in  her 
own  right. 

§  Eldest  son  of  Bernard  Howard  ;  became  Earl  of  Arundel  on  his 
father  succeeding  to  the  dukedom,  and  in  1842  became  13th  Duke  of 
Norfolk, 


246  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.        [Ch.  XI, 

a  little  sooner  so  as  to  be  here  before  the  Jockey's 
death,  for  the  above  purpose." 

Creevey,  however,  continued  to  live  in  Brussels 
for  the  sake  of  his  wife's  health,  resisting  many 
pressing  entreaties  from  his  friends  to  come  over  and 
rouse  the  flagging  spirits  of  the  Opposition.  He 
and  Mrs.  Creevey  received  many  letters  from  London 
containing  the  gossip  and  speculations  of  the  day. 


Lady  Holland  to  Mrs.  Creevey  [in  Brussels]. 

"Holland  House,  ist  Jany.,  1816. 

".  ,  .  According  to  the  song,  '  London  is  out  of 
town ; '  the  country  houses  are  overflowing.  The 
love  of  tennis  is  come  so  strongly  upon  Lord  Holland 
that  he  has  persuaded  me  rather  reluctantly  to  go 
once  more  to  Woburn  for  3  or  4  days,  in  order  that 
he  may  play  a  few  setts.  The  plea  which  makes  me 
yield  is  that  I  believe  exercise  keeps  off  the  gout. 

"The  most  violent  people  here  even  rejoice  at 
poor  La  Vallette's  escape.  What  an  abominable 
proceeding  it  has  been.  That  tygress  the  Duchess  of 
Angouleme  in  talking  of  Madame  de  la  Bedoyere 
observed — '  EUe  a  ete  elevee  dans  des  bons  principes, 
mais  elle  nourrit  le  fils  d'un  traitre' — an  envious 
reproach  from  her  sterile  Highness,  who  can  never 
enjoy  the  poor  widow's  maternal  felicity.  There  is  a 
strong  feeling  getting  up  in  the  country  at  our 
permitting  the  capitulation  to  be  broken,  altho'  none 
are  sorry  Ney  suffered.*.  .  .  Lady  Waldegrave  is 
dying  of  water  in  the  chest.  Her  death  will  cause  the 
disclosure  of  the  secret  whether  Lord  Waldegrave  is 
married  or  not.  ...  I  want  a  handsome  Valenciennes 

*  Such  was  not  Lord  Holland's  sentiment.  Among  Creevey's 
papers  is  a  very  long  letter  from  Lord  Holland  to  Lord  Kinnaird, 
declaiming  against  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  "  in  whom,  after  the  great 
things  he  has  done,  even  so  decided  an  opponent  of  the  war  as  myself 
must  feel  some  national  interest,"  for  permitting  the  execution  of  Ney 
and  Labedoyere. 


i8i5-i6.]  DISORGANISED  WHIGS.  247 

collcrcttc,  either  made  up,  or  lace  to  make  it.  Remember, 
my  throat  is  thick,  and  it  is  to  wear  over  the  collar  of 
a  pelisse.  .  .  .  Sir  Hudson  Lowe  has  married  a 
beautiful,  and  for  him  a  young,  widow.  She  is  the 
niece  of  Genl.  Delaney — quite  a  military  connexion. . . ." 

[No  date.] 
".  .  .  The  new  bishop  is  to  be  Legge,  the  Dean  of 
Windsor,  .familiarly  called  by  the  Regent  '  Mother 
Frump.'  .  .  .  Lord  Craven  embarks  with  all  his  family 
in  his  own  yatch  for  the  Mediterranean,  giving  a  good 
chance  to  his  brother  Berkeley,  especially  as  he  will 
rely  much  upon  his  own  skill  in  the  management  of 
the  vessell.  He  sets  off  at  the  already  incurred 
expense  of  forty  thousand  pounds — a  brilliant  debut; 
70  souls  on  board,  including  men,  women,  children 
and  ship's  company.  .  .  .  Lord  Warwick's  marriage 
with  Lady  Monson  is  all  settled.  It  is  so  advantageous 
to  the  minor  that  ;the  Chancery  will  not  enforce  the 
cruel  limitations  of  the  malignant  will  of  Lord  Monson 
against  her.  .  .  ." 


Henry  Brougham  to  Mr.  Creevey  \_in  Brussels]. 

"Temple,  Jany.  14,  1816. 
".  .  .  You  naturally  must  be  desirous  of  learning 
what  appearances  there  are  of  work  for  the  session. 
I  augur  very  well.  Whether  Snoutch  *  comes  over  or 
not,  I  can't  tell ;  but  in  the  event  of  his  not  coming,  I 
have  communicated  to  Grey  the  wishes  of  many  of 
the  party  including  the  Mountain,t  that  Lord  G. 
Cavendish  should  be  our  nominal  leader,  with  some- 
thing like  a  house  opened  to  harbour  the  party  in. 
In  fact,  a  house  of  rendezvous  is  more  wanted  than  a 
leader.  But  if  Snoutch  comes,  indeed  whether  he 
does  or  not,  our  merry  men  are  on  the  alert,  and  we 
shall  see  that  no  half  measures  prevail.  I  really  wd. 
fain  hope  that  Tierney  and  Abercromby  at  length  will 
see  the  folly  of  their  temporising  plans,  and  will  act 
always  and  systematically  as  they  did  during  part  of 
last  session.     But  nothing  must  be  left  to  chance,  and 

*  .'  Lord  Grenville.  t  The  Radicals. 


248  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XI. 

— 'speaking  as  an  humble  individual'* — I  am  quite 
determined  (tho'  ready  to  meet  them  half  way  for 
peace  and  union  sake)  that  the  game  of  the  country 
and  the  people  shall  be  played  in  good  earnest — if  not 
with  their  help,  without  it — by  God's  blessing. 

"The  plan  of  campaign  which  presents  itself  to  me 
on  a  review  of  the  state  of  affairs  and  the  temper  of 
men's  minds  is  of  this  description.  As  to  foreign 
affairs — to  act  as  a  corps  of  observation  and  take 
advantage  of  all  openings,  not  very  much  courting 
debates  on  those  matters  which  the  country  never 
feels  at  all,  and  on  which  recent  events  tend  greatly 
to  discredit  the  Opposition ;  but  ready  always  to  ex- 
pose the  enemy's  blunders.     E.g.,  the  d d  absurd 

plan  of  the  peace,  which  sows  the  seeds  of  war  broad- 
cast— the  systematic  plans  of  interference,  &c.  Above 
all,  the  grievous  proceedings  of  our  Ferdinand  f  agt. 
the  very  allies  we  had  fought  with  in  his  behalf.  .  .  . 
As  to  home  politics — here  we  should  make  our  main 
stand ;  and  the  ground  is  clearly  Retrenchment — in 
all  ways,  with  ramifications  into  the  Royal  family, 
property  tax,  jobs  of  all  sorts,  distresses  of  the  landed 
mterest,  &c.  In  short,  it  is  the  richest  mine  in  the 
world.  A  text  has  been  put  forth  in  the  Edinr.  Revieiv, 
to  which  I  refer  you.  .  .  .  Last  of  all,  but  not  least, 
the  proposal  of  measures  and  inquiries  unconnected 
with  ordinary  party  topics,  whereby  much  immediate 
real  good  is  done  to  the  country,  and  great  credit 
gained  by  the  party,  as  well  as,  ultimately,  a  check 
secured  to  the  Crown  and  to  abuses  generally.  For 
example — prison  reform — education  of  the  poor — 
tithes — above  all  the  Press,  with  which  last  I  think  of 
leading  off  immediately,  having  long  matured  my 
plan.  ...  It  embraces  the  whole  subject — of  allowing 
the  truth  to  be  given  in  evidence — limiting  the  ex  officio 
powers,  both  by  filing  informations  and  other  privileges 
possessed  by  the  Crown,  and  abolishing  special  juries 
in  cases  of  libel,  or  rather  misdemeanour  generally.  .  . . 
But  the  material  point  is — won't  you  come  over  to  our 
assistance?    You  are  more  wanted   than   my  regard 

*  A  sarcastic  allusion  to  Tierney's  style  in  speaking. 
t  King  Ferdinand  VII.,  who  was  availing  himself  of  his  restoration 
to  the  throne  of  Spain  to  indulge  in  harsh  and  tyrannical  despotism. 


i8iS-i6.]     BROUGHAM   STARTLES   HIS   FRIENDS.         249 

for  your  modesty  will  allow  me  to  say.  Really  you 
must  come.  .  .  .  There  are  many  uncomfortable  things, 
beside  the  dreadful  one  of  our  irreparable  loss  of  poor 
Sam  [Whitbread] — now  to  be  rrally  felt.  Nothing, 
for  instance,  can  be  more  unpropitious  than  the  plan 
of  carrying  on  the  party  by  a  coterie  at  Lady  Holland's 
elbow,  which  cannot  be  submitted  to  for  a  moment, 
even,  I  shd.  think,  by  those  who  belong  to  her  eoteric  ; 
at  least  I  know  no  one  but  the  Coles,  Horner  *  and  the 
Pope  t  (who  are  of  her  household)  who  can  bear  it. 
Do,  then,  let  us  hear  that  you  mean  to  come  over.  .  .  ." 

The  following  refers  to  the  speech  on  the  Treaty  of 
Paris,  whereby,  on  9th  February,  Brougham  marked 
his  return  to  the  House  of  Commons. 


Mr.  Western,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Crcevcy  {in  Brussels]. 

"9th  Feb.,  1S16. 
".  .  .  I  have  often  marvelled  at  the  zvaiit  of  sense, 
discretion,  judgment  and  common  sense  that  we  see 
so  frequently  accompany  the  most  brilliant  talents, 
but  damn  me  if  I  ever  saw  such  an  instance  as  that  I 
have  just  witnessed  in  your  friend  Brougham.  By 
Heaven !  he  has  uttered  a  speech  which,  for  power  of 
speaking,  surpassed  anything  you  ever  heard,  and  by 
which  he  has  damn'd  himself  past  redemption.  You 
know  what  my  opinion  of  him  has  always  been  :  I 
have  always  thought  he  had  not  much  sound  sense  nor 
too  much  political  integrity,  but  he  has  outstripped 
any  notion  I  could  form  of  indiscretion ;  and  as  to  his 
politicks,  they  are,  in  my  humble  opinion,  of  no 
sterling  substance  (but  that  between  ourselves).  He 
has  been  damaging  himself  daily,  but  to-night  there  is 
not  a  single  fcllozv  that  is  not  saying  what  a  damn'd 
impudent  speech  that  of  Brougham's — four  or  five 
driven  away — even  Burdett  says  it  was  too  much. 
He  could  not  have  roared  louder  if  a  file  of  soldiers 
had  come  in  and  pushed  the  Speaker  out  of  his  chair. 
Where  the  devil  a  fellow  could  get  such  lungs  and 

*  Francis  Horner,  M.P,  [1778-1817]. 
fReference  obscure. 


250  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XI. 

such   a   flow  of  jaw  upon  such  an  occasion  as  this 
surpasses  my  imagination. 

"  I  was  sitting  in  the  gallery  by  myself,  and  he 
made  my  head  spin  in  such  a  style  I  thought  I  shd. 
tumble  over.  He  quite  overcame  one's  understanding 
for  a  time  ;  but  when  I  recovered,  I  began  to  think — 
this  will  never  do — impossible — I  will  go  down  and 
see  what  other  lads  think  of  it :  perhaps  my  nerves 
are  a  little  too  sensitive.  I  soon  found,  however,  that 
everybody  was  struck  in  the  same  way,  and  even  more. 
Now,  when  I  say  that  he  has  damaged  himself  past 
redemption,  I  mean  as  a  man  aspiring  to  be  Leader, 
for  to  that  his  ambition  aspired,  and  for  that  he  is 
DONE  now.  By  Heaven  !  you  never  saw  men  so  chop- 
fallen  as  Ministers — Castlereagh  beyond  belief,  I  see 
it  in  every  line  of  his  face.  They  wd.  have  been 
beaten  to-night,  I  do  believe,  again.  Brougham  has 
put  them  up  20  per  cent. ;  that  is  to  say,  by  inducing 
people  more  to  support  them  to  keep  [the]  Opposition 
out,  just  as  they  were  supported  upon  [the]  Walcheren 
business  to  keep  us  out.  Our  fellows  all  run  the 
savage  too  keen  for  the  game  to  succeed  in  bagging 
it.  There  is  .never  more  skill  necessary  than  when 
the  fox  is  in  view.  They  are  for  running  in  upon  him 
at  once,  and  they  will  run  a  chance  of  being  totally 
thrown  out  in  the  attempt.  They  fought  the  Property 
Tax  well,  though  it  was  done  out  of  doors  completely 
Glorious  victory  that !  If  you  are  not  set  out,  come 
directly ;  we  shall  have  a  famous  session.  ...  It  is  a 
pretty  tight  fitt  for  me,  but  ruin  overwhelms  the 
farmers.  I  feel  convinced  a  national  bankruptcy  will 
be  the  consequence.  I  declare  1  believe  it  firmly.  I 
shall  drive  at  the  whole  of  the  Sinking  Fund.  ...  I 
have  not  any  hopes  of  Midsummer  rents,  and  the 
generality  of  landowners  will  be  minus  the  best  part 
of  their  interest,  without  a  wonderful  alteration.  .  .  ." 


Mr.  J.  Whishaw,  M.P.,  io  Mr.  Creevcy. 

"  Lincoln's  Inn,  Feb.  loth,  1816. 
".  .  .  We   have  had  two  distinguished  foreigners 
for   some  tirne  in  London — General  de  Flahaut  and 
Genl.  Sebastiani.     The  former  was  one  of  Napoleon's 


I8i5-i6.]        WHO    SHALL   LEAD   THE   WHIGS?  25 1 

chief  favourites,  and  is  the  reputed  son  of  Talleyrand 
by  the  present  Madame  de  Souza,  formerly  Madame 
de  Flahaut.  He  does  not  inherit  the  talents  of  his 
parents,  but  is  a  handsome,  accomplished  and  very 
agreeable  officer,  a  flattering  specimen  of  the  manners 
of  the  Imperial  Court,  which  assuredly  could  not 
boast  of  many  such  ornaments.  Sebastiani  is  nearly 
the  reverse  of  all  these,  with  somewhat  of  an  air  of 
pedantry  and  solemn  importance,  of  which  you  may 
recollect  some  traits  in  his  famous  dispatch.  It  is 
a  little  curious  to  sit  at  table  with  a  person  formerly 
so  much  talked  of,  and  who  contributed  so  much  to 
the  war  of  1803.  You  may  remember  that  he  was  one 
of  Pitt's  principal  topics  on  that  occasion.  .  .  ." 


Mr.  Western,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevcy  \in  Brussels]. 

"House  of  Commons,  Feb.  17,  1816. 

"...  As  to  the  general  proceedings  of  the  Opposi- 
tion, I  can  say  little.  There  is  no  superior  inind 
amongst  us ;  great  power  of  speaking,  faculty  of 
perplexing,  irritation  and  complaints,  but  no  super- 
eminent  power  to  strike  out  a  line  of  policy,  and  to 
command  the  confidence  of  the  country.  Brougham 
has  shown  his  powers  rather  successfully,  and  ex- 
hibits some  prudence  in  his  plans  of  attack ;  but  I 
cannot  discern  that  superiority  of  judgment  and  of 
view  (if  I  may  so  express  myself)  which  is  the  grand 
desideratum.  Tierney  is  as  expert,  narrow  and  wrong 
as  ever;  Ponsonby  as  inefficient ;  Horner  as  sonorous 
and  eloquent,  I  must  say,  but  I  cannot  see  anything  in 
him,  say  what  they  will,  though  he  certainly  speaks 
powerfully.  A  little  honest,  excellent  party  are  as 
warm  as  ever,  and  only  want  a  good  leader  to  be 
admirable.  Grenvilles  and  Foxites  splitting  —  all 
manner  of  people  going  their  own  way.  As  to  foreign 
policy  I  came  to  a  conclusion  that  the  Bourbons 
cannot  keep  their  place,  and  that  their  proceedings 
are  abominable,  as  I  told  you  in  a  letter  from  Paris; 
and  then  what  may  happen  no  man  can  calculate.  If 
they  had  any  wisdom  or  firmness,  they  were  safe,  but 
they  must  kick  the  thing  over. 


252  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.        [Ch.  XL 

"  In  regard  to  our  internal — Agriculture,  &c.,  is 
getting  into  a  state  of  Despair  absolutely  and  distrac- 
tion. ...  I  assure  you  the  landed  people  are  getting 
desperate;  the  universality  of  ruin  among  them,  or 
distress  bordering  on  it,  is  absolutely  unparallel'd,  and 
at  such  a  moment  the  sinking  fund  is  not  to  be 
TOUCHED  for  the  world,  says  Horner — no  not  a  shilling 
of  it :  and  yet — taxes  to  be  taken  off,  rents  to  come 
down,  cheap  corn,  cheap  labour — how  can  a  man  talk 
of  such  IMPOSSIBILITIES  ?  The  interests  of  all  debts  and 
sinking  fund  together  amount  to  ^43,000,000 
Establishment     29,000,000 


72,000,000 


Now,  cut  the  Establishment  ever  so  low,  we  shall 
have  four  times  as  much  to  raise  as  before  the  war. 
It  is  not  to  be  done  out  of  the  same  rents,  &c.,  &:c.  It 
is  absolute  madness  to  talk  of  it.  ,  .  .  By  the  bye — 
there  never  was  a  moment  for  the  exertion  of  yr. 
talents  in  the  job-oversetting  way,  and  fighting  every 
shilling  of  expenditure.  This  is  the  time,  never  before 
equalled.  They  cannot  resist  on  these  points,  and  the 
carrying  them  is  valuable  beyond  measure,  prospectively 
as  well  as  iuiinediately.  Whenever  you  blow  one 
jobb  fairly  out  of  the  water,  it  presents  a  hundred 
others,  and  this  is  the  moment !" 


Henry  Brougham,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey  [in  Brussels']. 

"Temple,  Thursday  [May,  18 16]. 

"Dear  C, 

"  I   think  it  better  to  trust  this  to  the  post 

than  to  any  of  their  d d  bags.     [Here  follow  some 

minute  details  concerning  Creevey's  seat  for  Thetford, 
which  he  seemed  to  be  in  some  danger  of  losing, 
owing  to  changes  of  plan  on  the  part  of  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk  and  Lord  Petre,  who  had  the  disposal  there- 
of]. .  .  .  All  I  desire  is  that  you  put  vie  personally 
wholly  out  of  your  view.  I  am  worked  to  death  with 
business,  and,  for  my  own  comfort,  care  little  whether 
I  remain  out  this  session  or  not.     The  labour  would 


i8i5-i6.]  BROUGHAM'S   VIEWS.  353 

be  a  set  off  agt.  the  pleasure  of  revenging  myself  agt. 
certain  folks,  and  even  the  sweets  of  that  revenge 
would  be  dashed  with  bitterness,  for  I  foresee  a 
rupture  with  Grey  as  by  no  means  an  unlikely  result 
of  doing  my  duty  and  taking  my  swing.  We  have 
lately  had  rather  an  approach  to  that  point,  in  con- 
sequence of  my  urgency  agt.  Adam's  job,  Lauderdale's 
general  jobbery  and  other  tender  points,  including  the 
Cole  faction,  and  their  getting  round  him  (G.).  The 
Whigs  (as  I  hold)  are  on  the  eve  of  great  damage 
from  the  said  jobs,  and  I  conceived  a  warning  to  be 
necessar}^,  with  a  notice  that  the  Mountain  and  the 
folks  out  of  doors  were  resolved  to  fire  on  the  party 
if  it  flinched.  Some  very  unpleasant  things  have 
passed,  and  the  discussion  is  only  interrupted  by  his 
child's  death.  Now — come  when  I  may  into  Parlt.,  it 
must  be  zvholly  opposed  to  the  Coles,  who  have  a 
lamentable  hold  over  his  mind.  ...  A  Westminster 
vacancy  would  be  awkward ;  on  the  other  hand,  a 
Liverpool  vacancy  would  be  still  more  so,  were  I  out 
of  Parlt.  The  merry  men  are  all  up,  and  I  should 
inevitably  be  dragged  into  the  scrape.  There  are 
overtures  from  both  parties — Gladstone  *  would  sup- 
port a  moderate  Whig— with  us;  the  Corporation  and 
Gascoigne  would  prefer  a  Mountaineer  as  most  agt. 
Canning  and  favorable  to  their  undivided  jobbery. 
That  we  may  put  in  a  man  is  clear,  but  I  really  cannot 
give  time  enough  to  the  place.  This  matter  concerns 
you  as  well  as  myself,  but  then  if  you  remain  out  of 
the  way  for  tivo  sessions,  it  would  not  be  easy  to  bring 
you  in.  Moreover,  if  you  take  Liverpool  and  quit 
your  present  hold  you  can't  so  well  resume  it  in  case 
of  accident.  ...  I  have  written  a  hash  of  a  letter, 
without  giving  an  opinion,  having  really  none  to  give, 
and  wishing  to  leave  you  to  yourself  You  alone  can 
decide.  ...  I  have  served  Prinny  with  a  formal  notice 
from  his  wife  that  in  May  she  returns  to  Kensington 
Palace.  .  .  ." 

*  John  Gladstone  of  Liverpool,  created  a  baronet  in  1846,  a 
leading  Tory  in  that  town,  and  father  of  the  late  Right  Hon.  W.  E. 
Gladstone. 


254  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XI. 

"  1816. 
"  If  Mrs.  C.  can  possibly  let  you  come  for  a 
few  weeks,  for  God's  sake  do  come !  It  is  morally 
certain  you  can  come  in  for  L'pool.  ...  If  you  don't 
come  in  there,  you  are  out  altogether,  with  some  other 
good  men — as  Mackintosh,  Ossulston,  &c.,  and,  for 
anything  I  know  to  the  contrary,  myself  For  who 
can  answer  for  a  county  like  Westmorland,  where 
there  has  been  no  contest  for  50  years  ?  and  where  I 
have  all  the  parsons,  justices,  attorneys,  and  nearly  all 
the  resident  gentry  (few  enough,  thank  God !  and  vile 
enough)  leagued  agt.  me,  besides  the  whole  force  of 
the  Government.  The  spirit  of  the  freeholders,  to  be 
sure,  is  wonderful,  and  in  the  end  we  must  beat  the 
villains.  Govt,  complain  of  L[onsdale]  for  getting 
them  into  it,  and  he  complains  of  them  for  not  dissolv- 
ing. My  satisfaction  is  that  he  is  now  bleeding  at 
every  pore — all  the  houses  open — all  the  agents 
running  up  bills — all  the  manors  shot  over  by  any- 
bod}^  who  pleases." 


Lady  Holland  to  Mrs.   Creevey. 

"  Holland  House,  21st  May,  1816. 
".  .  .  Lord  Kinnaird  carried  over  the  singular  libel 
published  by  Lady  C.  Lamb  against  her  family  and 
friends.*  It  is  a  plaidoyer  against  her  husband  ad- 
dressed to  the  religious  and  methodistical  part  of  the 
community,  accusing  him  of  having  overset  her  reli- 
gious and  moral  (!)  principles  by  teaching  her  doctrines 
of  impiety,  &c.  The  outlines  of  few  of  her  characters 
are  portraits,  but  the  amplissage  and  traits  are  exact. 
Lady  Morganet  is  a  twofold  being — Dss.  of  Devonshire 
and  her  mother:  Lady  Augusta  Lady  Jersey  and  Lady 
Collier:  Sophia  Lady  Granville, jwho  had  6  years  ago 
a  passion  for  working  fine  embroidery,  and  she  marks 

♦  Lady  Caroline  Ponsonby  [1785-1828],  only  daughter  of  the  3rd 
Earl  of  Bessborough,  married  in  1805  the  Hon.  W.  Lamb,  afterwards 
Viscount  Melbourne  and  Prime  Minister,  but  was  separated  from  him 
in  1825.  Glenarvon,  the  romance  referred  to  in  the  text,  was  pub- 
lished anonymously  in  1816,  and  reissued  in  1865  under  the  title  of 
The  Fatal  Passion. 


I8i5-i6.]  A    LADY'S   LETTER.  255 

most  atrociously  her  marriage  with  Lord  Granville. 
Lady  Mandcville  is  Ly.  Oxford :  Biicha)ian  is  Sir 
Godfrey  Webster :  Glenarvon  and  Vivian  are  of  course 
Lord  Byron.  Lady  Frances  Webster  is  sketched  and 
some  others  slightly.  Lady  Melbourne  is  represented 
as  bigotted  and  vulgar.  The  words  about  Mr.  Lamb 
are  encomiastick,  but  the  facts  are  against  him,  as  she 
insidiously  censures  his  not  fighting  a  duel  which  her 
fictitious  husband  does.  The  bonne-bouche  I  have 
reserved  for  the  last — myself.  Where  every  ridicule, 
folly  and  infirmity  (my  not  being  able  from  malady  to 
move  about  much)  is  portrayed.  The  charge  against 
more  essential  qualities  is,  I  trust  and  believe,  a 
fiction ;  at  least  an  uninterrupted  friendship  and  inti- 
macy of  25  years  with  herself  and  family  might  induce 
me  to  suppose  it.  The  work  is  a  strange  farrago, 
and  only  curious  from  containing  some  of  Lord  Byron's 
genuine  letters — the  last,  in  which  he  rejects  her  love 
and  implores  an  end  to  their  connexion,  directed  and 
sealed  by  Lady  Oxford,  is  a  most  astonishing  perform- 
ance to  publish.  There  is  not  much  originality,  as 
the  jokes  against  me  for  my  love  of  aisances  and  com- 
forts she  has  heard  laughed  at  by  myself  and  coterie 
at  my  own  fireside  by  years.  The  invasion  of  Ireland 
is  only  our  own  joke  that  when  we  were  going  out  of 
Bruxelles  with  such  a  cavalcade  the  inhabitants  might 
suppose  we  were  a  part  of  the  Irish  Army  rallied. 
The  dead  poet  is  Mr.  Ward's  joke  at  Rogers  having 
cheated  the  coroner.  I  am  sorry  to  see  the  Melbourne 
family  so  miserable  about  it.  Lady  Cowper  is  really 
frightened  and  depressed  far  beyond  what  is  necessary. 
.  .  .  The  work  has  a  prodigious  sale,  as  all  libellous 
matters  have.  Even  General  Fillet's  [?]  satire  upon  the 
English  was  bought  for  two  guineas  the  other  day  by 
Mr.  Grenville, 

"  I  know  Lord  Kinnaird  also  took  over  the  Antiquary 
and  the  new  play,  otherwise  I  would  send  them  to 
you;  but  if  Moore's  poem  is  good  you  shall  have  it. 

"We  have  been  returned  to  our  delicious  old 
mansion  above  a  week.  Foliage  and  birds  are  the 
only  demonstration  of  a  change  of  season  from  Decem- 
ber, as  the  cold,  piercing  easterly  winds  are  still 
dreadful.  .  .  ." 


256  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.        [Ch.  XI. 

"  Holland  House,  Tuesday. 

"I  take  the  opportunity  of  Lady  Lansdowne's 
departure  to  send  you  a  small  parcel  of  rubbish  for 
your  friend  Gina,  and,  what  is  not  rubbish,  some  verses 
by  Mr.  Rogers  to  add  to  his  poems.  .  .  .  The  town 
has  been  much  occupied  by  a  very  strange  affair 
which  led  to  a  duel  between  Ld.  Buckingham  and 
Sir  Thos.  Hardy.  It  is  a  mysterious  business,  but  I 
sincerely  hope  quite  over  for  ever.  It  was  the  charge 
of  Ld.  B.  being  the  author  of  some  very  scandalous, 
offensive  anonymous  letters  to,  and  about,  Ly.  Hardy. 
You  would  naturally  suppose  that  the  character  of  a 
gentleman,  which  Ld.  B.  has  never  forfeited  would 
have  been  a  sufficient  guard  to  have  repelled  such  a 
charge ;  but  the  Lady  was  angry.  There  are  various 
conjectures  about  the  writer  of  these  letters;  but, 
except  just  the  angry  parties,  the  world  generally  do 
justice  to  Lord  B.,  from  the  impossibility  of  a  man  of 
character  and  in  his  station  of  life  being  capable  of 
such  an  abominable  proceeding.  It  is  not  the  mode 
of  revenge  which  a  man  takes,  however  he  may  have 
been  jilted,  or  believed  himself  as  so.  But  all  these 
stories  you  will  have  heard  from  the  Tierneys,  who 
meant  to  spend  some  days  at  Bruxelles.  .  .  .  We  are 
going  to  make  a  northern  excursion  .  .  .  we  shall 
make  Lord  Grey  a  visit  of  a  week  at  Howick,  and  if 
Lord  Lauderdale  should  not  be  phUandermg  in  these 
parts,  stop  at  Dunbar.  .  .  ." 

Hcmy  Brougham,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Crecvey. 

•' Temple  [no  date,  1816?] 

"  The  opinion  is  prevalent  that  the  fete  after  all 
won't  hold  ;  at  any  rate  that  P.*  won't  venture.  His 
loyal  subjects  are  sure  to  attack  him,  and  the  burning 
of  the  temporary  room,  with  the  whole  fashionable 
world,  may  be  the  consequence.  Indeed  a  small 
expense,  laid  out  in  one  squib,  would  bring  about 
this  catastrophe,  so  they  will  probably  take  fright. 
...  I  dined  on  Saturday  at  Dick  Wilson's,  who  was 
pleased  to  give  the  Pss.  of  W.'s  health  immediately 
after  the  King's  (the  D.  of  Sussex  being  there),  and  he 

*  The  Prince  Reeent. 


i8i5-i6.]  A    DISPIRITED    RADICAL.  257 

then,  with  his  accustomed  patriotism,  gave  '  The 
Rights  of  the  People.'  .  .  .  Young  Frog*  was  t'other 
day  made  remarkably  drunk  by  a  savage  animal  of 
the  narne  of  Wirtemburg  (son  of  the  pickled  sister, 
your  friend),  and  in  this  predicament  shewn  up  to 
young  P.t  among  others.  The  savage  took  the  oppor- 
tunity of  making  love  on  his  own  score,  and  has  been 
forbid  C[arlton]  House  in  consequence." 

Hon.  H.  G.  Bcnnd,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Crccvey. 

^'Whitehall,  July  13  [i Si 6]. 

"Now  a  word  or  two  about  poor  Sheridan.  One 
does  not  feel  the  loss  of  so  great  a  creature  as  one 
ought  to  do,  for,  after  all,  he  is  the  last  of  the  giants, 
and  there  is  no  one  to  take  the  chair  he  leaves.  I 
believe  there  is  no  doubt  that  his  death  was  hastened, 
if  not  caused,  by  his  distress — by  his  fear  of  arrest — 
and  if  he  had  been  in  Parliament  he  would  probably 
have  been  alive.  His  dread  was  a  prison,  and  he  felt 
it  staring  him  in  the  face.  .  .  .  The  funeral  takes  place 
on  Saturday.  Peter  Moore  invites  people  to  attend, 
and  several  are  going.  I  have  heard  of  Ld.  Guild- 
ford and  Thanet.  I  shd.  like  to  do  what  was  right, 
but  I  do  not  think  ceremony  at  all  wise  or  in  good 
taste." 

"Walton,  July  21. 

".  .  .  The  last  session  has  been  very  damaging  to 
the  country.  .  .  .  The  Opposition  has  made  no  way 
and  the  Government  are  certainly  stronger  than  ever, 
for  all  the  tinsel  and  lace  have  rallied  round  them.  At 
the  same  time,  these  attacks  on  the  constitution  have 
made  the  liberty  boys  feel  more  kindly  towards  us. 
But  we  must  allow  that,  tho'  the  Government  are 
hated,  we  are  not  loved.  ...  As  you  may  imagine, 
our  friend  Brougham  has  done  everything  this  year 
with  no  help,  for  there  literally  is  no  one  but  Folkestone 
who  comes  into  the  line  and  fights.  Our  leaders  are 
away — poor  Ponsonby  from  idleness  and  from  fatigue, 
and  Tierney  from  ill  health.  I  fear  he  will  never  show 
again  as  he  used  to  do.  Who  is  to  lead  us  now? 
God   knows!     Some  talk  of  Ld.  George  Cavendish, 

*  The  Prince  of  Orange.  Princess  Charlotte  of  Wales. 

s 


258  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XI. 

which  I  resist,  because  I  think  his  politicks  are 
abominable  and  his  manners  insolent  and  neglectful ; 
but  also  because  the  Cavendish  system,  with  the 
Duke  [of  Devonshire]  at  the  head,  is  not  the  thing 
for  the  present  da}^  They  are  timid,  idle  and  haughty  : 
the  Duke  dines  at  Carlton  House  and  sits  between 
the  Chancellor  and  Lord  Caithness,  and  I  have  no 
doubt  will  have,  one  of  these  days,  the  Ribband. 
Then  the  Archduchess  (as  they  call  him)  is  a  great 
admirer  and  follower  of  Prinnie's,  and  presumes  to 
abuse  the  Mountain,  and  as  I  am  in  duty  bound  to 
protect  myself,  he  singles  me  out  as  the  most  objec- 
tionable person  in  the  H.  of  Commons,  and  says  my 
politics  are  revolutionary.  This  last  offence  deter- 
mines me  to  submit  to  no  Cavendish  leader.  Milton 
is  named,  and  Tavistock,*  who  would  be  the  best  of 
all,  but  I  fear  he  loves  hunting  too  much,  and  has  not 
enough  money,  for  we  must  have  a  leader  with  a 
house  and  cash.  So  amid  all  the  difficulties,  I  pro- 
pose a  Republic — no  leader  at  all!  .  .  ." 

From  Henry  Brougham,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey  [in 
Brussels'], 

"Aug.  15,  1816.     Geneva  (uninhabitable). 

"  Dear  C, 

"...  I  have  been  here  for  some  time  and  in 
the  neighbourhood.  It  is  a  country  to  be  in  for  two 
hours,  or  two  hours  and  a  half,  if  the  weather  is  fine, 
and  no  longer.  Ennui  comes  on  the  third  hour,  and 
suicide  attacks  you  before  night.  There  is  no  resource 
tvhatcvcr  for  passing  the  time,  except  looking  at  lakes 
and  hills,  which  is  over  immediately.  I  should  except 
Mme.  Stael,  whose  house  is  a  great  cornxfort. 

"You  may  wish  to  know  the  truth  as  to  Mother  P. 
They  resolved,  under  Mrs.  Leach's  auspices,  to  pro- 
ceed. I  rather  think  the  Chancellor  and  ministers 
were  jealous  of  Mrs.  L. ;  at  any  rate  they  were  indis- 
posed to  the  plan,  but  on  it  went,  and  a  formal  notifi- 
cation was  made  to  little  P.'s  husband  f  and  herself. 
I   believe   they  were  to  have  begun  in  Hanover,  to 

*  Afterwards  7th  Duke  of  Bedford. 

t  In  May  of  this  year  Princess  Charlotte  of  Wales  had  married 
Leopold,  Duke  of  Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. 


i8i5-i6.]  "YOU   MUST   COME  OVER!"  359 

have  something  to  show  to  Bull  and  his  wife  and 
daughter.  But  steps  were  also  taken  in  England.  Being 
advised  of  this  from  the  best  authority,  I  deemed  it 
proper,  according  to  the  tacticks  we  have  always 
adopted,  not  to  wait  to  be  attacked,  but  to  fire  a  shot 
of  some  calibre,  and  you  will  by  this  time  have  seen 
more  of  it,  tho'  you  may  not  have  guessed  whence  it 
came.  .  .  .  As  for  Mrs.  P.  *  herself,  she  won't  do  any 
more ;  but  the  daughter  is  a  strong  force  and  will 
carry  the  old  lady  through.  Mrs.  P.  is,  I  believe, 
among  the  Ottomans,  but  I  have  no  sort  of  communi- 
cation with  her.  .  .  .  Tell  Kinnaird  that  Lord  Byron 
is  living  here,  entirely  cut  by  the  English." 

"Rome,  14th  Nov.,  1S16. 

"...  I  agree  in  your  view  of  the  high  importance 
of  this  session.  Lord  [jllc^ible],  who  is  here,  holds 
that  it  will  be  one  of  expedients  and  shifts,  and  that 
the  grand  breakdown  won't  happen  yet.  I  don't 
much  differ  from  him  ;  but  still,  it  will  be  the  session, 
for  their  shifts  and  struggles  and  agonies  will  be  the 
very  time  for  work.  The  illustrious  Regent  mean- 
time has  been  suffering  in  the  flesh  as  well  as  the 
spirit,  and  I  rejoice  to  hnd  that  his  last  defeat  (which 
was  a  total  one)  has  greatly  annoyed  him.  I  suppose 
you  are  aware  of  the  secret  history  of  it,  and  of 
Mother  P.  having  miraculously  been  found  fit  for 
service  once  more.  However,  this  time  1  must  say 
she  was  rather  a  name  than  anything  else,  and  little  P. 
in  reality  bore  the  brunt  of  the  day.  I  rejoice  to  say 
that  Lord  Grey  views  the  divorce  question  in  its  true 
light,  as  do  the  party  generally,  i.e.  in  its  connection 
with  little  P.  and  upon  more  general  grounds.  Both 
Carlton  House  and  Hertford  House  now  say  the 
matter  is  finally  at  rest.  .  .  .  There  are  too  many  of 
the  party  abroad  this  session.  Lord  Lansdowne  is 
here  and  remains  all  the  winter  in  Italy,  unless  some 
very  imperious  call  should  take  him  home.  The 
Jerseys  and  Cowpers  come  in  a  few  days  with  the 
same  plans.  .  .  .  Lady  Jersey's  absence  is  very  bad 
for  the  party.  She  alone  had  the  right  notion  of  the 
thing,  and  her  great  influence  in  society  was  always 
honestly  and  heartily  exerted  with  her  usual  excellence 

*  The  Princess  of  Wales. 


26o  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.        [Ch.  XI. 

of  disposition.  Ill  as  we  can  spare  speakers,  we 
can  still  less  afford  such  a  loss  as  this.  .  .  .  All 
this  brings  me  to  my  text.  You  nntst  come  over ;  it 
won't  do  to  be  absent  any  longer,  therefore  make  up 
your  mind  to  take  the  field.  Meet  me  at  Paris  or 
Calais,  if  I  can't  come  to  Brussels,  and  1  can  take  you 
easily  if  you  don't  fear  the  squeeze  of  three  in  a 
carriage.  .  .  .  When  you  get  to  London,  if  you  please 
you  may  have  my  chambers  for  as  long  as  you  stay, 
with  the  laundress  and  man.  I  take  lodgings  in 
Spring  Gardens  during  the  session,  and  only  am  in 
chambers  now  and  then  for  half  an  hour  to  look  at 
the  statutes.  .  .  ." 

Mr.  Allen*  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Maidenhead,  Sat.,  Nov.  coth. 

"  Dear  Sir, 

"  Lord  and  Lady  Holland  are  in  very  great 
affliction,  and  you  who  knew  the  dear  little  girl  they 
have  lost  and  how  much  they  were  attached  to  her, 
will  not  wonder  at  their  sorrow.  ...  It  is  a  satisfac- 
tion to  hear  that  Lord  Derby's  fears  are  subsiding, 
and  from  what  I  observed  before  I  left  town  I  think 
several  others  who  were  in  the  same  predicament  are 
recovering  from  their  alarm.  This  mud  bespattering 
of  the  extra  Radicals  at  their  last  meeting  has  made 
people  ashamed  of  their  fears,  and  if  the  Whigs  most 
inclined  to  popular  courses  adhere  steadily  to  their 
determination  of  having  no  communication  with  the 
Radicals  of  any  description,  I  trust  the  session  may 
pass  over  without  any  schism  among  Opposition,  and 
that  ministers  will  have  revived  this  alarm  to  very 
little  purpose.  But  all  depends  on  the  discretion  of 
the  two  or  three  first  days  of  the  session.  One 
violent  speech,  received  with  approbation  by  the 
more  eager  members  of  the  party,  would  cause 
the  same  break-up  as  in  1792,  and  give  Jenkyf  and 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  the  same  despotic  authority 
that  Mr,  Pitt  exercised  from  that  period  to  the  end 
of  his  administration.  .  .  ." 

*  John  Allen,  M.D.  [1771-1843],  political  writer,  a  regular  inmate 
of  Holland  House;  of  whom  Byron  said  that  he  was  "the  best-, 
informed  and  one  of  the  ablest  men  "  that  he  knew. 

t  Lord  Liverpool. 


(     :^6i     ) 


CHAPTER  XII. 

1817-1818. 

In  1817  the  Creeveys  continued  in  Brussels.  Ap- 
parently the  hopeless  disorganisation  of  the  Opposi- 
tion in  Parliament  deterred  Mr.  Creevey  from  coming 
home  ;  at  least,  there  are  no  indications  of  his  having 
availed  himself  of  any  of  the  numerous  and  pressing 
invitations  he  received.  His  friends,  however,  still 
kept  him  well  supplied  with  gossip,  and  Brussels  at 
that  time  was  the  centre  of  much  political  activity,  so 
Creeve}'  had  no  want  of  occupation  for  his  thoughts, 
his  tongue,  and  his  pen. 

Henry  Brougham,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

'•  London,  March  25,  1817. 

".  .  .  We  have  holiday  this  week  in  virtue  of 
Mr.  Speaker's  right  cheek  having  swelled  out  with 
erysipelas  to  an  extraordinary  size.  His  appearance 
is  worth  coming  over  to  see.  Sefton  and  1  went  to 
his  levee  t'other  night,  and  the  Earl  was  much 
amused  with  our  small  friend's  grimaces.  .  .  .  Lord 
Rolle  coming  in  he  [the  Speaker]  spoke  of  the 
climate  in  Devonshire — '  I  take  it  skates  are  quite 
unknown  in  your  lordship's  part  of  the  world,'  and 
so  forth.  I  then  made  the  Earl  go  to  the  Chancellor's, 
and  rejoice  to  tell  you  his  observation  was  how  much 
more  the  manners  of  a  gentleman  the  Chancr.  had, 
which  is  quite  true.  I  ought  to  apologise  to  you  for 
taking  so  much  liberty  with  your  little  friend,  with 
whom   I   foresee  3'our  flirtation   is   speedily   about  to 


262  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XII. 

close,  for  there  is  a  plan  of  a  peerage  and  a  pension 
of  i^4000  for  three  lives.  Now  I  hardly  think  your 
loves,  how  warm  and  constant  soever,  can  stand  this 
shock."* 

*'  London,  April  r,  1817. 

"...  I  am  glad  you  and  Kinnaird  approved  of  my 
broadside  on  the  13th  March.f  ...  I  knew  that  Govt, 
would  be  taken  by  surprise,  and  had  told  Sefton  so, 
for  Ward  and  others  had  said  to  me  some  days  before 
that  they  took  it  for  granted  I  was  to  give  them,  as 
they  were  pleased  to  say,  'a  most  valuable  speech,' 
on  the  plan  of  my  last  year's  on  Agricultural  distress 
■ — a  sort  of  pair  or  pendant  to  that.  I  answered  I 
meant  no  such  matter,  and  should  divide  at  all  events, 
and  regarded  it  as  a  hostile  occasion.  They  did  not 
believe  it — had  no  guess  of  attacks  on  foreign  policy, 
and  looked  innocent  and  astonished  as  I  went  on.  I 
was  very  much  tickled,  and  really  enjoyed  it,  for  1 
began  quietly  to  the  greatest  degree,  and  only  flung  in 
a  stray  shot  every  20  minutes  or  \  hour  by  way  of 
keeping  them  on  the  alert  and  preserving  attention  ; 
and  when,  at  the  end  of  the  first  hour  and  a  half,  I 
opened  my  first  battery,  I  do  assure  you  it  had  a 
comical  effect.  .  .  .  Still,  it  was  not  quite  personal  to 
Castlereagh,  and  when  it  was  over,  I  changed  my 
plan,  in  order  to  get  breath,  and  play  with  them  a 
little  longer,  and  give  my  other  fire  more  effect — that 
is,  I  went  back  to  general,  candid  and  speculative 
observations,  and  at  large  into  the  taxation  part  of 
the  subject,  and  having  prepared  them  by  a  few  more 
random  shots  for  a  factious  conclusion,  I  then  opened 
my  last  battery  upon  C,  to  see  whom  under  the  fire 
was  absolutely  droll.  He  at  first  yawned,  as  he 
generally  does  when  galled — then  changed  postures 
— then  left  his  seat  and  came  into  the  centre  of  the 
bench — then  spoke  much  to  Canning  and  Van,  and  at 

last  was  so  d d  fidgetty  that  I  expected  to  see  him 

get  up.     It  ended  by  his  not  saying  one  word  in  his 

*  Mr.  Speaker  Abbot,  who  had  hlled  the  chair  since  1S02,  was 
created  Lord  Colchester,  3rd  June,  1817. 

t  He  had  spoken  vehemently  against  the  Property  Tax  and  in 
favour  of  retrenchment  in  various  departments. 


l8i7-i8.]  FROM    LORD    HOLLAND.  263 

own  defence,  but  appealing  to  posterity.  .  .  .  We  really 
want  you  more  than  words  can  describe.  You  posi- 
tively /////s/ come,  if  but  to  show.  .  .  ." 


Lord  Holland  to  Mr.  Creevcy. 

"  Holland  House,  24th  June,  1817. 
".  .  .  The  heat  of  the  weather  is  delightful,  but 
writing  letters  is  not  the  way  of  enjoying  it.  The 
country  is,  or  was,  as  flat  about  its  liberties  as  it 
had  been  animated  and,  according  to  my  judgment, 
absurd  about  sinecures  and  Parliamentary  reform  five 
months  ago.  However,  I  think  the  spies  and  in- 
formers admirably  exposed  by  Ld.  Grey.  The  con- 
version of  Ld.  Fitzwilliam  and  the  stoutness  of 
Milton,*  have  somewhat  roused  them  from  their 
indifference,  and  very  much  shaken  an}^  disposition 
there  was  to  approve  these  revivals  of  Pitt's  worst 
measures.  However,  the  best  chance  of  change  in 
the  Government  is,  after  all,  that  of  their  weakness 
and  disunion,  rather  than  our  popularit}^,  strength  or 
concert.  Peel's  election  has  galled  the  Cannings  to 
the  quick."  f 

[No  date.] 
"  Dear  Creevey, 

"  I  have  put  off  answering  your  very  enter- 
taining letter  and  interesting  communication  to  the 
last  moment,  and  unfortunately  to  a  moment  when  I 
am  full  of  business — trying  to  get  up  a  Middlesex 
meeting  and  to  bring  the  great  guns,  called  Dukes,  to 
bear  upon  the  question  of  Habeas  Corpus.  That 
cursed  business  of  Reform  of  Parliament  is  always  in 
one's  way.  With  one  great  man  nothing  is  good 
unless  that  be  the  principal  object,  and  with  another 
nothing  must  be  done  if  a  word  of  Reform  is  even 
glanced  at  in  requisition,  petition  or  discussion.  .  .  . 

*  The  3rd  Earl  Fitzwilliam  sat  in  the  House  of  Commons  as 
Viscount  Milton  from  1807  to  1833.  He  was  strongly  opposed  at 
first  to  parliamentary  reform  ;  but  became  one  of  its  most  ardent 
advocates,  though  his  family  held  a  number  of  pOcket  boroughs. 

t  Peel  was  elected  member  for  Oxford  in  this  year,  a  seat  which 
Cannini^  had  greatly  coveted  for  himself. 


264  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XII. 

They  say  the  Prince  has  left  off  his  stays,  and  that 
Royalty,  divested  of  its  usual  supports,  makes  a  bad 
figure.  ...  I  wish  I  had  politics,  tittle-tattle  or  book- 
news  to  send  you.  Of  the  latter,  Llandaff's  memoirs 
are  empty,  but  cursed  provoking  to  the  Court  and  the 
Church.  Franklin's  life  will  be  curious,  both  for  its 
information  and  style.  Rob  Roy  is  said  to  be  good, 
but  falls  off  at  the  end.  .  .  ." 


Lord  Holland  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Bruges,  4th  July,  1817. 

"  Dear  Creevey, 

"We  shall  make  an  excursion  to  Antwerp 
from  Brussels  instead  of  taking  it  on  our  way,  and 
consequently  shall  arrive  the  day  after  to-morrow  by 
the  Ghent  road.  We  are  all  well  and  much  delighted 
with  the  country.  How  can  such  a  fertile  country 
want  bread  ?  and  why,  when  it  (bread)  has  fallen  at 
Ypres  and  even  Courtray,  is  it  at  the  same  price 
here?  Allen,  though  he  bears  Adam  Smith  and  M. 
Marcot  in  his  head,  cannot  solve  this.  .  .  ." 


Hon.  //.  G.  Benncf,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Cnrvey. 

"Oakley,  July  20,  1S17. 

"...  I  rejoice  at  the  prospect  of  your  return 
home,  as  not  only  I  want  3'ou,  but  we  all  require 
your  counsel  and  aid.  .  .  .  Your  friends  the  Grenvilles 
are  not  only  nibbling,  but  biting  at  us  once  more, 
but  I  trust  we  shall  have  nothing  to  do  with  them. 
Have  you  heard  of  our  plan  for  a  leader?  Some 
persons  last  year  thought  of  one  of  straw,  such  as 
Althorpe  or  Ld.  G.  Cavendish,  but  that  wd.  not  do, 
and  we,  the  Mountaineers,  resented  the  scheme.  At 
present  we  all  concur  in  the  necessity  of  some  one, 
and,  taking  all  circumstances  into  consideration, 
Tierney  is  the  man  selected  in  this  choice.  Romilly 
and  Brougham  cordially  concur,  and  I  do  so  likewise  : 
not  that  Mrs.  Cole  has  not  many  grievous  faults,  but 


i8i7-i8.]         MR.    TIERNEY   CHOSEN    LEADER.  265 

there  is  no  one  else  who  has  not  more.  Romill^' 
cannot,  from  his  business ;  and  Brougham  cannot 
from  his  unpopularity  and  want  of  discretion.  I 
think  that  the  good  old  lady  can  be  kept  in  order, 
and  tho'  she  be  timid  and  idle,  yet  she  is  very  popular 
in  the  House,  easy  and  conciliatory  ;  in  no  way  perfect 
— in  many  ways  better  than  any  other  person.  The 
proposition  takes  immensely,  and  at  present  between 
60  and  70  persons  have  signified  their  adherence.  Let 
me  know  your  opinion.  .  ,  ." 


Lady  Holland  to  Mrs.  Creevey. 

"Holland  House,  Friday,  September,  1S17. 

".  .  .  We  staid  a  short  time  at  Edinburgh  and 
made  a  long  visit  of  a  fortnight  at  Howick,  where  I 
had  the  delight  of  seeing  Lord  Grey  all  the  time  in 
the  most  perfect  health  and  spirits,  his  countenance 
exhibiting  gaiety  and  smiles  which  never  are  seen 
on  this  side  of  Highgate  Hill.  .  .  .  Lady  Louisa  is 
very  handsome,  the  others  are  very  tolerably  well- 
looking,  but  not  equal  to  her,  but  graceful  in  dancing 
and  riding,  and  excellent  musicians.  Some  of  the 
boys  are  uncommonly  promising,  especially  the  2nd 
son  Charles,  and  little  Tom.  The  House  is  made  one 
of  the  most  comfortable  mansions  I  know,  and  the 
grounds  are  as  pretty  as  they  can  be  in  the  ugliest 
district  in  the  Island.  I  never  expected  to  be  so  long 
in  a  country  house,  and  yet  leave  it  with  regret,  which 
was  the  case  in  this  instance.  We  made  a  visit  to 
Lambton,  which  is  a  magnificent  house,  everything 
in  a  suitable  style  of  splendor.  He  is  an  excellent 
host  :  his  three  little  babies  are  his  great  resource, 
tho'  I  hope  he  is  recovering  his  spirits  ;  and  as  he  has 
no  son,  the  sooner  he  decides  upon  taking  another 
wife,  the  happier  it  will  be  for  all  parties.  He  is 
full  of  good  qualities,  and  his  talents  are  very 
remarkable. 

"  London  is  very  deserted :  onl}^  a  few  stragglers, 
and  those  are  not  likely  to  encrease ;  as  September 
is  invariably  the  most  empty  month.     Lawyers   and 


266  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.       [Ch.  XII. 

sportsmen  are  always  absent,  and  they  are  a  numerous 
part  of  the  community. 

"  We  have  been  near  losing  our  Regent,  and  as 
the  physicians  mistook  his  disorder,  they  have 
probably  curtailed  his  length  of  life,  for  the  disease 
was  treated  at  first  as  inflammatory,  and  they  took 
60  ounces  of  blood.  When  Baillie  saw  him  he 
declared  it  to  be  spasm,  and  gave  laudanum  and 
cordials.  The  consequences  are  likely  to  produce 
dropsy.  His  disinclination  to  all  business  is,  if 
possible,  encreased,  and  there  have  been  serious 
thoughts  of  a  council  of  Regency  to  assist  in  the 
dispatch  of  affairs.  Pss.  Charlotte  is  going  on  in  her 
grossessc,  but  there  are  some  strange  awkward 
symptoms.*  They  are  living  at  Claremont.  Ld. 
Castlereagh  is  supposed  to;,have  entire  influence  over 
the  Prince  Leopold. 

"What  think  you  of  the  pamphlet  on  the  divorce  ? 
It  is  most  artfully  done.  The  appeal  to  the  shabby 
ones  in  the  H.  of  Commons  will  have  its  weight,  and 
perhaps  the  threat  of  recrimination  may  startle  the 
party  at  Ragley.  This  skilfuU  work  is  supposed  to 
come  from  the  borders  of  the  Lake  of  Geneva. f 

"  In  the  bean  mondc  I  hear  of  Ly,  C.  Cholmondeley's 
marriage  with  Mr.  Seymour,  a  son  of  Lord  Hugh's ; 
his  brother  and  Miss  Palk  ;  Lord  Sunderland  and  Ly. 
E,  Conyngham.  The  Duke  of  Marlborough  gives  him 
^5000. 

"  You  heard  of  Lady  L  [illegible]  from  a  ceremonial 
depriving  herself  of  the  pleasure  of  seeing  Napoleon. 
The  Govt,  are  displeased  that  the  determination  of 
Napoleon's  adherents  to  continue  with  him  should  be 
known,  and  more  strictness  is  adopted  in  the  corre- 
spondence with  the  Island  [of  St.  Helena].  As  you 
will  see  from  many  idle  paragraphs  that  the  impression 
to  be  given  in  this  country  is  that  all  belonging  to 
him  hate  and  abhor  him,  and  wish  to  be  quit  of  him  ; 
whereas  the  fact  is  notoriously  the  contrary.  It  is 
rather  mortifying  to  see  this  country  become  the 
jailors  and  spies  for  the  Bourbon  Govt.  ;  for  to  that 
condition  Ld.  Castlereagh  has  brought  it." 

*  Princess  Charlotte  died  in  childbirth  the  following  year, 
t  I.e.  from  the  pen  of  John  Cam  Hobhouse. 


i8i7-i8.]    THE   DUKE   OF   KENT'S   CONFIDENCES.      267 

The  following  notes  of  a  conversation  with  H.R.H. 
the  Duke  of  Kent  remain  in  Mr.  Creevey's  hand- 
writing, apparently  as  they  were  written  down  imme- 
diately after  the  event.  Previous  to  this  year,  there 
is  no  indication  that  Creevey  ever  entertained  the 
notion  of  collecting  or  publishing  anything  from  his 
papers ;  but  after  his  wife's  death,  which  occurred  in 
18 18,  time  hung  more  heavily  on  his  hands,  and  he 
conceived  the  idea,  which  he  discussed  frequently 
with  his  step-daughter,  Miss  Ord,  of  compiling  a 
history  of  his  own  times.  This  never  took  shape, 
further  than  that  his  letters  to  Miss  Ord  were  care- 
fully preserved  by  his  desire,  along  with  much  other 
correspondence.  Upon  this  occasion,  H.R.H.  the 
Duke  of  Kent  happened  to  be  in  Brussels,  shortly 
after  the  death  of  Princess  Charlotte  of  Wales.  He 
desired  Creevey,  whom  he  had  known  familiarly  in 
former  times  at  the  Pavilion  and  Carlton  House,  to 
call  upon  him  ;  when,  after  discussing  some  trifling 
matter  relating  to  the  appointment  to  a  chaplaincy, 
he  broached  a  subject  which  evidently  was  weighing 
upon  his  mind.  It  must  be  confessed  that  his  Royal 
Highness  was  not  very  discreet  in  choosing  Mr. 
Creevey  as  the  repository  of  his  confidence  in  such 
a  delicate  matter.  Creevey  seems  to  have  had  no 
scruple  in  communicating  the  tenour  of  the  conver- 
sation to  some  of  his  friends.  He  certainly  told  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,*  and  on  30th  December  Lord 
Sefton  wrote  from  Croxteth,  acknowledging  Creevey's 
letter  with  its  "  most  amusing  contents.  Nothing 
could  be  more  apropos  than  its  arrival,  as  it  was  put 
into  my  hand  while  a  surgeon  was  sounding  ni}' 
bladder  with   one  hand   and  a  finger  of  tlie  other,  to 

*  Sec  p.  284. 


26B  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Cil.  XII. 

ascertain  whether  I  had  a  stone  or  not.  I  never  saw 
a  fellow  more  astonished  than  he  was  at  seeing  me 
laugh  as  soon  as  the  operation  was  over.  Nothing 
could  be  more  first-rate  than  the  Royal  Edward's 
ingenuousness.  One  does  not  know  which  to  admire 
most — the  delicacy  of  his  attachment  to  Mme.  St. 
Laurent,  the  refinement  of  his  sentiments  towards  the 
D.  of  Clarence,  or  his  own  perfect  disinterestedness 
in  pecuniary  matters." 


Nolcs  of  a  Conversation  zvith  H.R.H.  the  Duke  of  Kent 
at  Bnissets,  Dee.   ii,   1817. 

".  .  .  The  Duke  begun,  to  my  great  surprise,  a 
conversation  upon  the  death  of  the  Princess  Charlotte, 
and  upon  an  observation  from  me  upon  thederangement 
of  the  succession  to  the  throne  by  this  event,  and 
of  the  necessity  of  the  unmarried  Princes  becoming 
married,  if  the  crown  was  to  be  kept  in  their  family  ; 
and  having  in  addition  asked  him,  I  believe,  what 
he  thought  the  Regent  would  do  on  the  subject 
of  a  divorce,  and  whether  he  thought  the  Duke  of 
Clarence  would  marry,  the  Duke  of  Kent,  to  the  best 
of  my  recollection,  and  I  would  almost  say  word  for 
word,  spoke  to  me  as  follows. 

"  '  My  opinion  is  the  Regent  will  not  attempt  a 
divorce.  I  know  persons  in  the  Cabinet  who  will 
never  consent  to  such  a  measure.  Then,  was  he  to 
attempt  it,  his  conduct  would  be  exposed  to  such 
recrimination  as  to  make  him  unpopular,  beyond  all 
measure,  throughout  the  country.  No  :  he  never  will 
attempt  it.  Besides,  the  crime  of  adultery  on  her 
part  must  be  proved  in  an  English  court  of  justice, 
and  if  found  guilty  she  must  be  executed  for  high 
treason.  No :  the  Regent  will  never  try  for  a 
divorce. 

"  '  As  for  the  Duke  of  York,  at  his  time  of  life  and 
that  of  the  Duchess,  all  issue,  of  course,  is  out  of  the 


lSi7-iS.]     THE    DUKE    OF    KENT'S    CONFIDENCES.       269 

question.  The  Duke  of  Clarence,  I  have  no  doubt, 
will  marry  if  he  can  ;  but  the  terms  he  asks  from  the 
Ministers  are  such  as  they  can  never  comply  with. 
Besides  a  settlement  such  as  is  proper  for  a  Prince 
who  marries  expressly  for  a  succession  to  the  Throne, 
the  Duke  of  Clarence  demands  the  payment  of  all  his 
debts,  which  are  very  great,  and  a  handsome  pro- 
vision for  each  of  his  ten  natural  children.  These  are 
terms  that  no  Ministers  can  accede  to.  Should  the 
Duke  of  Clarence  not  marry,  the  next  prince  in  suc- 
cession is  myself;  and  altho'  I  trust  I  shall  be  at  all 
times  ready  to  obey  any  call  my  country  may  make 
upon  me,  God  only  knows  the  sacrifice  it  will  be  to 
make,  whenever  I  shall  think  it  my  duty  to  become  a 
married  man.  It  is  now  seven-and-twenty  3^ears  that 
Madame  St.  Laurent  and  I  have  lived  together  :  we 
are  of  the  same  age,  and  have  been  in  all  climates, 
and  in  all  difficulties  together ;  and  you  may  well 
imagine,  Mr.  Creevey,  the  pang  it  will  occasion  me  to 
part  with  her.  I  put  it  to  your  own  feeling — in  the 
event  of  any  separation  betv/een  you  and  Mrs. 
Creevey.  ...  As  for  Madame  St.  Laurent  herself, 
I  protest  I  don't  know  what  is  to  become  of  her  if  a 
marriage  is  to  be  forced  upon  me ;  her  feelings  are 
already  so  agitated  upon  the  subject.  You  saw,  no 
doubt,  that  unfortunate  paragraph  in  the  Morning 
Chronicle,  which  appeared  within  a  day  or  two  after 
the  Princess  Charlotte's  death ;  and  in  which  my 
marrying  was  alluded  to.  Upon  receiving  the  paper 
containing  that  article  at  the  same  time  with  my 
private  letters,  I  did  as  is  my  constant  practice,  I 
threw  the  newspaper  across  the  table  to  Madame 
Saint  Laurent,  and  began  to  open  and  read  my 
letters.  I  had  not  done  so  but  a  very  short  time, 
when  my  attention  was  called  to  an  extraordinary 
noise  and  a  strong  convulsive  movement  in  Madame 
St.  Laurent's  throat.  For  a  short  time  I  entertained 
serious  apprehensions  for  her  safety ;  and  when, 
upon  her  recovery,  I  enquired  into  the  occasion  of 
this  attack,  she  pointed  to  the  article  in  the  Morning 
Chronicle  relating  to  my  marriage. 

"  *  From  that  day  to  this  1  am  compelled  to  be  in 
the  practice  of  daily  dissimulation  with  Madame  St. 
jlaurent,  to  keep  this  subject  from   her  thoughts.     1 


270  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XII. 

am  fortunately  acquainted  with  the  gentlemen  in 
Bruxelles  who  conduct  the  Liberal  and  Oracle  news- 
papers ;  they  have  promised  me  to  keep  all  articles 
upon  the  subject  of  my  marriage  out  of  their  papers, 
and  I  hope  my  friends  in  England  will  be  equally 
prudent.  My  brother  the  Duke  of  Clarence  is  the 
elder  brother,  and  has  certainly  the  right  to  marry  if 
he  chooses,  and  I  would  not  interfere  with  him  on 
any  account.  If  he  wishes  to  be  King — to  be  married 
and  have  children,  poor  man — God  help  him  !  let  him 
do  so.  For  myself — I  am  a  man  of  no  ambition,  and 
wish  only  to  remain  as  I  am.  .  .  .  Easter,  you  know, 
falls  very  early  this  year — the  22nd  of  March.  If  the 
Duke  of  Clarence  does  not  take  any  step  before  that 
time,  I  must  find  some  pretext  to  reconcile  Madame 
St.  Laurent  to  my  going  to  England  for  a  short  time. 
St.  George's  day  is  the  day  now  fixed  for  keeping  the 
birthday,  and  my  paying  my  respects  to  the  Regent 
on  that  day  will  be  a  sufficient  excuse  for  my  appear- 
ing in  England.  When  once  there,  it  will  be  easy  for 
me  to  consult  with  my  friends  as  to  the  proper  steps 
to  be  taken.  Should  the  Duke  of  Clarence  do  nothing 
before  that  time  as  to  marrying,  it  will  become  my 
duty,  no  doubt,  to  take  some  measures  upon  the 
subject  myself 

"  *  You  have  heard  the  names  of  the  Princess  of 
Baden  and  the  Princess  of  Saxe-Cobourg  mentioned. 
The  latter  connection  would  perhaps  be  the  better  of 
the  two,  from  the  circumstance  of  Prince  Leopold 
being  so  popular  with  the  nation  ;  but  before  any- 
thing is  proceeded  with  in  this  matter,  I  shall  hope 
and  expect  to  see  justice  done  by  the  Nation  and  the 
Ministers  to  Madame  St.  Laurent.  She  is  of  very 
good  family  and  has  never  been]  an  actress,  and  I  am 
the  first  and  only  person  who  ever  lived  with  her. 
Her  disinterestedness,  too,  has  been  equal  to  her 
fidelity.  When  she  first  came  to  me  it  was  upon 
;^ioo  a  year.  That  sum  was  afterwards  raised  to 
^400,  and  finally  to  ;^iooo;  but  when  my  debts  made 
it  necessary  for  me  to  sacrifice  a  great  part  of  my 
income,  Madame  St.  Laurent  insisted  upon  again 
returning  to  her  income  of  ;^400  a  year.  If  Mad. 
St.  L.  is  to  return  to  live  amongst  her  friends, 
it  must   be   in   such   a  state   of  independence  as   to 


i8i7-i8.]    THE   DUKE  OF   KENT'S   CONFIDENCES.       271 

command  their  respect.  I  shall  not  require  very 
much,  but  a  certain  number  of  servants  and  a  carriage 
are  essentials.  Whatever  the  Ministers  agree  to  give 
for  such  purposes  must  be  put  out  of  all  doubt  as 
to  its  continuance.  I  shall  name  Mr.  Brougham, 
yourself  and  two  other  people  on  behalf  of  Madame 
St.  Laurent  for  this  object. 

"  '  As  to  my  own  settlement,  as  I  shall  marry  (if  I 
marry  at  all)  for  the  succession,  I  shall  expect  the 
Duke  of  York's  marriage  to  be  considered  the  pre- 
cedent. That  was  a  marriage  for  the  succession,  and 
;!^25,ooo  for  income  was  settled,  in  addition  to  all  his 
other  income,  purely  on  that  account.  I  shall  be  con- 
tented with  the  same  arrangement,  without  making 
any  demands  grounded  upon  the  difference  of  the 
value  of  money  in  1792  and  at  present.  As  for  the 
payment  of  my  debts,  I  don't  call  them  great.  The 
nation,  on  the  contrary,  is  greatly  my  debtor.' 

"  Here  a  clock  striking  in  the  room  where  we  were 
seemed  to  remind  the  Duke  he  was  exceeding  his 
time,  and  he  came  to  a  conclusion  almost  instantly, 
and  I  retired." 


Lord  Folkestone,  M.P.,  to  T.  Circvcy  [in  Brussels]. 

"  Lower  Grosvcnor  St.,  Feb.  23  [18 18]. 

".  .  .  We  goon  in  the  House  in  a  very  languishing 
way :  very  little  attendance,  and  still  less  attention. 
The  House  is  regularly  empty  till  9  or  10  o'clock  on 
the  most  interesting  questions  ;  and  then  the  new 
comers  are  all  clamorous  for  a  division  to  get  away 
again.  We  all  like  our  new  Speaker  *  most  extremely  : 
he  is  gentlemanlike  and  obliging.  The  would-be 
Speaker  {alias  Squeaker)  f  has,  as  I  suppose  you  have 
heard,  moved  down  to  my  old  anti-Peace-of-Amiens 

*  Charles  ^^lanncrs  Sutton  [i 780-1845],  Speaker  of  the  House 
of  Commons  from  1S17  to  1835,  when  he  was  created  Viscount 
Canterbury. 

t  C.  W.  W.  Wynn. 


272  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XII. 

bench.  There  are  Wynn,  Fremantle,  Phillimore  * 
enlisted  under  Bankes.  I  rejoice  sincerely  I  did  not 
vote  for  said  Squeaker;  but  some  of  those  who  did 
are,  I  hear,  very  much  ashamed  of  themselves  for  it. 
Romilly  is  in  high  force  this  year :  Brougham,  I  know 
not  why,  has  been  quite  silent.  .  .  ,  Prinny  has  let 
loose  his  belly,  which  now  reaches  his  knees :  other- 
wise he  is  said  to  be  well.  Clarence  has  been  near 
dying  :  has  been  refused  by  the  Princess  of  Denmark, 
and  is  going,  it  is  thought,  to  marry  Miss  Wykeham. 
But  his  malady  is  of  that  nature  that  they  say 
matrimony  is  likely  to  destroy  him,  so  that  your 
friend  the  Duke  of  Kent  will  be  King  at  last.  I  hope 
you  have  noted  that  the  Issues  of  the  Bank  have  again 
increased,  and  that  the  price  of  gold  and  other  articles 
is  rising,  and  the  Bank  restriction  to  continue.  The 
old  career,  it  seems,  is  to  be  run  over  again,  and  the 
few  Landed  Proprietors  who  have  come  unhurt  out  of 
the  first  business  will  be  swallowed  up  in  the  second. 
A  pretty  prospect  this  for  a  Lord  like  me  with  a  young 
and  increasing  family.  I  should  like  much  to  introduce 
to  you  my  son,  who  is  a  very  jolly  fellow.  Lady  F. 
tells  me  that  she  is  known  to  you,  though  not  in  the 
character  of  my  wife." 

Mr.  Creevey  was  a  warm  and  intimate  friend  of 
Lord  Kinnaird,  who,  like  himself,  had  been  a  vehement 
opponent  of  the  war  with  France.  Lord  Kinnaird 
was  so  indiscreet  as  to  persist  openly  in  his  anti- 
national  demonstrations  long  after  the  war  was  over. 
Being  in  Brussels  in  1818,  a  certain  French  refugee 
named  Marinet,  then  under  sentence  of  death,  offered 
to  reveal  to  Kinnaird  a  plot  for  the  assassination  of 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  in  Paris,  on  condition  that 
Kinnaird  would  intercede  for  him  with  M.  de  Cazes. 
Kinnaird  informed  Sir  George  Murray,  the  Duke's 
Adjutant-General,  by  letter,  who  naturally  asked  the 
name   of  the   informer.      This    Kinnaird    refused   to 

♦  Joseph  Phillimore  [1775-1855],  M.P.  for  St.  Mawes  1817-26. 


iSi7-iS.]  LORD    KINNAIRD'S   AFFAIR.  2/3 

give,  having  passed  his  word  that  he  should  not  do 
so ;  neither  could  he  be  induced  to  reveal  it  after 
the  attempt  upon  the  Duke's  life  had  been  made 
by  Cantillon  on  loth  P>bruary.  Upon  this  the 
Belgian  Government  ordered  his  arrest.  Kinnaird 
left  Brussels  secretly,  taking  Marinet  w^ith  him.  Both 
were  arrested  on  arriving  in  Paris,  but  Kinnaird  was 
released  at  the  request  of  the  Duke,  who  took  him 
into  his  own  house,  to  prevent  him  being  "  lodged  in 
the  Conciergerie,"  as  the  Duke  explained  to  Lord 
Bathurst,  "which  I  certainly  should  not  have  liked."* 
On  15th  April,  Kinnaird  left  Paris,  for  Brussels, 
as  he  informed  the  Duke,  but  really  on  his  way  to 
England,  leaving  behind  him  a  letter  addressed  to 
the  French  Chambrc  dcs  Pairs,  accusing  the  Govern- 
ment, and,  by  implication,  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  of 
breach  of  faith  in  the  arrest  of  Marinet.  Kinnaird's 
indiscretion  brought  him  into  very  unfavourable 
notice  at  the  time;  he  was  even  suspected  of  some 
degree  of  complicity  in  the  crime,  whereof  the  Duke 
freely  acquitted  him,  though  Lady  Holland  always 
afterwards  spoke  of  him  as  "Oliver"  Kinnaird. 
There  is  nothing  of  interest  in  Kinnaird's  letters  at 
the  time  to  Creevey,  but  one  to  his  wife  may  serve  to 
show  him  in  the  light  of  a  wrong-headed  busybod}^, 
without  any  useful  field  for  his  activity. 


Lord  Kinnaird  to  Lady  Kinnaird. 

"Paris,  .\pril,  rSiS. 

"What  shall  I  tell  you  of  the  proceedings  here? 
My  patience  is  exhausted.     I  have  in  vain  claimed  the 

*  Wellington's  Siipph-Diciifaiy  Dcspatdics,  xii.  3X2. 


274  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XII. 

interference  of  the  Duke  [of  Wellington]  and  the  justice 
of  the  Govt,  in  favor  of  a  man  unjustly  imprisoned.  I 
have  suffered  all  sorts  of  calumnies  to  be  spread  agt. 
me  for  a  long  tima  I  will  no  longer  submit  to  it,  and 
have  now  given  definite  notice  that  I  will  leave  Paris 
this  week.  ...  1  would  not  trust  our  own  courier,  or 
Dukes,  or  Ambassadors.  You  have  no  notion  of  the 
mischievous  attacks  some  ministerial  papers  have  been 
making  on  me.  You  may  believe  I  despise  them,  but 
I  think  I  must  say  something  in  reply.  .  .  ." 

In  the  summer  of  1818  took  place  a  general  election, 
and  Creeve^^  received  notice  to  quit  Thetford,  which 
he  had  represented  since  1802.  The  reason  for  the 
new  Duke  of  Norfolk  making  this  change  is  not 
apparent ;  possibly  he  was  dissatisfied  with  Creevey's 
absence  from  Parliament  for  more  than  three  years ; 
possibly,  as  Brougham  had  anticipated,  the  Duke's 
mother-in-law,  Lady  Stafford,  may  have  induced  him 
to  choose  one  of  her  own  friends.  Anyhow,  Creevey 
bitterly  resented  this  treatment  at  the  hands  of  his  old 
friend  Bernard  Howard,  and  wrote  him  a  very  long 
letter  of  remonstrance.  The  correspondence  is  only 
worth  referring  to  as  illustrating  a  condition  of  affairs 
which  ceased  to  exist  in  this  country  with  the  passing 
of  the  Reform  Act  of  1832.  Creevey  reminds  the 
Duke  that  they  have  been  acquainted  for  sixteen 
years. 

"The  question  I  put  to  you,  Duke,  is  this— Why 
have  you  not  noticed  me  in  your  arrangements  for  the 
new  Parliament,  or  why  have  you  not  given  me  your 
reasons  for  not  doing  so?  Shall  I  begin  with  my 
claims  upon  you  on  publick  grounds?  I  can  only  do 
this  by  comparing  myself  with  the  persons  returned 
by  you.  I  will  take,  for  instance,  the  returns  of  Mr. 
Phillips  and  his  son.  ...  I  have  learnt,  and  am  taught 
to   believe,  that    Mr.   Phillips's  claims  upon  you  are 


i8i8.]   MR.  CREEVEY  DISLODGED  FROM  THETFORD.  275 

founded  upon  a  large  loan  of  money  that  he  advanced 
to  you  two  or  three  years  ago.  ...  I  am  certain  that 
mature  reflection  will  show  you  the  fatal  effects  that 
such  a  precedent,  if  generally  followed,  would  produce, 
as  well  upon  your  own  body — the  Aristocracy — as 
upon  the  Constitution  itself  of  your  country. .  .  .  Need 
I  point  out  to  you,  Duke,  the  certain  and  speedy  result 
of  such  operations  on  the  part  of  the  Aristocracy? 
Would  they  not  then,  at  least,  be  subject  to  the 
reproach,  hitherto  so  unjustly  and  maliciously  urged 
against  them,  of  trafficking  in  seats  in  Parliament? 
.  .  .  How  long  do  you  think  the  Constitution  and 
liberties  of  the  country  would  survive  the  loss  of 
publick  character  in  the  Aristocracy?" 

To  all  this,  and  a  great  deal  more,  the  Duke  replied 
very  briefly,  expressing  regret  that  "  dear  Crecvcy " 
was  not  "in  any  situation  that  he  desired,  and  in 
which  the  exertion  of  his  talents  might  be  useful  to 
the  country,"  but  refusing  to  acknowledge  "the  right 
he  had  thought  proper  to  exercise  of  reproaching 
him  (the  Duke)  with  imaginary  injustice."  He  is 
willing  to  attribute  Mr.  Creevey's  "  extraordinary  and 
unmerited  asperity  to  some  temporary  irritation  pro- 
ceeding from  misconceptions." 

Having,  then,  lost  the  scat  which  he  had  held  for 
sixteen  years,  during  four  Parliaments ;  having,  also, 
lost  his  excellent  wife,  and,  with  her,  the  greater  part 
of  his  income,  he  moved  with  his  step-daughters,  the 
Miss  Ords,  from  Brussels  to  Cambray,  wiiere  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  had  the  headquarters  of  the  army 
of  occupation.  While  there  he  kept,  or  attempted  to 
keep,  a  journal,  which  is  not  without  some  passages  of 
interest. 


276  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Cli.  XII. 


Extracts  from  Mr.  Crccvcys  Journal. 

^^  Catnbray,  \6tJi  July,  1818. — 1  came  from  Brussells 
to  Cambray  with  the  IVIiss  Ords  on  14th  July,  and  got 
there  the  15th.  To-day  I  rode  to  see  a  cricket  match 
between  the  officers  near  the  town,  and  presently  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  rode  there  likewise,  accompanied 
by  Mrs.  Harvey  and  Miss  Caton.  As  soon  as  he  saw 
me,  he  rode  up  and  shook  hands  with  me,  and  asked 
me  if  I  was  returned  in  the  new  Parliament,  to  which 
I  answered  that  the  weather  was  too  hot  to  be  in 
Parliament,  and  that  I  should  wait  till  it  was  cooler. 
He  asked  me  to  dine  with  him  that  day,  but  I  was 
engaged  to  the  officers  who  were  playing  the  match, 
and  he  then  asked  me  for  the  next  day. 

"  17///. — I  dined  with  the  Duke.  .  .  .  Mrs.  Harvey 
and  Miss  Caton  were  the  only  ladies.  We  were  about 
sixteen  or  eighteen,  I  suppose ;  no  strangers  but 
myself  One  of  the  first  things  said  at  dinner  by 
the  Duke  was : — '  Did  you  see  Kinnaird  at  Brussells, 
Creevey?'  to  which  I  said: — 'Yes,  I  saw  him  on 
Monday,  just  on  the  point  of  starting  for  Milan,  where 
he  means  to  spend  the  next  winter.'  Upon  which 
the  Duke  said  : — '  By  God  !  the  Austrian  Government 
won't  let  him  stay  there.' — 'Oh  impossible,'  I  said, 
'  upon  what  pretence  can  they  disturb  him  ? ' — and  then 
he  paused,  and  afterwards  added : — '  Kinnaird  is  not 
at  all  busy  wherever  he  goes:'  to  which  I  made  no 
answer.  This  was  the  year  in  which  Lord  Kinnaird 
took  up  Marinet  from  Brussells  to  Paris,  to  give 
evidence  about  the  person  who  had  fired  at  the  Duke 
in  Paris — an  affair  in  which  Kinnaird,  to  my  mind, 
acted  quite  right,  and  Wellington  abominably  to  him 
in  return.  ...  In  the  evening  I  had  a  long  walk  and 
talk  with  the  Duke  in  the  garden,  and  he  was  very 
agreeable.  .  .  .  We  talked  over  English  politics,  and 
upon  my  saying  that  never  Government  cut  so 
contemptible  a  figure  as  ours  did  the  last  session — 
particularly  in  the  repeated  defeats  they  sustained  on 
the  proposals  to  augment  the  establishments  of  the 
Dukes  of  Clarence,  Kent  and  Cumberland  upon  their 


l8i7-iS.]  JOURNAL.  277 

marriages,  he  said :— '  By  God !  there  is  a  great  deal 
to  be  said  about  that.  They  (the  Princes)  are  the 
damnedest  millstone  about  the  necks  of  any  Govern- 
ment that  can  be  imagined.  They  have  insulted — 
■personally  insulted — two  thirds  of  the  gentlemen  of 
England,  and  how  can  it  be  wondered  at  that  they 
take  their  revenge  upon  them  when  they  get  them  in 
the  House  of  Commons?  It  is  their  only  oppor- 
tunity, and  I  think,  by  God !  they  are  quite  right  to 
use  it.' 

"  18///. — Invited  to  dine  at  Lord  Hill's,  where  the 
Duke  and  a  great  party  were  to  be ;  but  I  would  not 
go,  because  I  found  [General]  Barnes  had  written  to 
Lord  Hill  desiring  him  to  ask  me. 

^' 2T,rd. — Dined  at  Sir  Andrew  Hamond's,  with 
Alava,*  Hervey,  Lord  Wm.  Russell  and  the  Lord 
knows  who  besides.  Young  Lord  William  was  very 
good  about  politics,  and  civil  enough  to  say  he  was 
sorry  I  was  out  of  Parliament. 

No  date. — "  Dined  at  Sir  Lowry  Cole's  f  and  liked 
Lady  Frances  very  much — very  good-looking,  excellent 
manner  and  agreeable.  That  cursed  fellow  Colonel 
Stanhope  X  was  there  amongst  others,  who  I  remember 
was  an  Opposition  man  3  years  ago,  but  who  now 
is  in  Parliament  and  a  Government  lick-spittle.  He 
made  up  to  me  cursedly,  but  I  would  not  touch 
him. 

No  date. — "Dined  at  Lord  Hill's  with  my  young 
ladies  and  Hamilton  and  a  monstrous  party,  all  in  a 
tent  at  his  house  four  miles  from  Cambray.  I  should 
just  as  soon  have  supposed  Miss  Hill — Lord  Hill's 
sister — who  was  there,  to  have  been  second-in-com- 
mand of  our  army,  as  Lord  Hill,  his  appearance  is  so 

*  A^o/e  by  Mr.  Crecvcy. — "  The  Representative  of  Spain  at  the 
Court  of  the  Bourbons,  and  at  Wellington's  headquarters  also — a  most 
upright  and  incomparable  man." 

t  Second  son  of  the  ist  Earl  of  Enniskillen:  commanded  the  4th 
Division  in  the  Peninsular  War,  and  married  a  daughter  of  the  ist 
Earl  of  Malmesbury. 

X  Probably  the  Hon.  James  Hamilton  Stanhope,  son  of  the  3rd 
Earl  Stanhope,  and  father  of  the  present  Mr.  Banks  Stanhope  of  Revesby 
Abbey.  Creevey's  uncomplimentary  reference  is  to  nothing  worse  than 
Stanhope's  change  of  politics. 


27S  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XII. 

unmilitary.*  He  and  his  sister  seem  excellent  people, 
and  Barnes  tells  me  that  there  cannot  be  a  better 
second-in-command  of  an  army  than  Lord  Hill.  I 
found  Master  Stanhope  there  again,  and  he  wanted 
me  to  dine  with  him,  but  I  would  do  no  such  thing. 
He  has  no  talents  :  he  is  all  pretension  and  impudence. 
Col.  Percy  f  is  by  far  the  best  hand  at  conversation  of 
the  Duke's  young  men. 

No  date. — "  Dined  at  the  Duke  of  Wellington's. 
The  ladies  were  Lady  Charlotte  Greville  and  Lady 
Frances  Cole.  The  Duke  began  by  asking : — '  Well, 
Creevey,  how  many  votes  have  the  Opposition  gained 
this  election  ?  Who  is  Wilson  that  is  come  in  for 
the  City,  and  what  side  is  he  of?'  I  thought  Lady 
Frances  looked  rather  astounded  at  such  familiarity, 
and  upon  such  a  subject.  At  dinner  he  began  again  : 
—  'Who  is  to  be  your  leader  in  the  House  of 
Commons  ? '  I  said  they  talked  of  Tierney,  but  1 
was  quite  sure  Romilly  ought  to  be  the  man. — '  Ah,' 
he  said,  '  Tierney  is  a  sharp  fellow,  and  I  am  sure 
will  give  the  Government  a  good  deal  of  trouble. 
As  for  Romilly,  I  know  little  of  him,  but  the  House 
of  Commons  never  likes  lawyers.'  So  I  said  that 
was  true  generally,  and  justly  so,  but  that  poor 
Horner  I  had  been  an  exception,  and  so  was  Romilly : 
that  they  were  no  ordinary,  artificial  skirmishing 
lawyers,  speaking  from  briefs,  but  that  they  con- 
veyed to  the  House,  in  addition  to  their  talents,  the 
impression  of  their  being  really  sincere,  honest  men. 
I  availed  myself  of  this  occasion  to  turn  to  my  next 
neighbour  Lord  W.  Russell,  and  to  give  him  a  good 
lecture  upon  the  great  merits  of  Romilly  and  the 
great  folly  of  our  party  in  making  Tierney  leader, 
whose  life  had  been  in  such  direct  opposition  to  all 
Whig  principles.  I  found  the  young  lord  quite 
what  a  Russell  ought  to  be. 

*  Sir  Rowland  Hill,  created  Viscount  Hill  in  1814  for  his  splendid 
services  in  the  Peninsular  War,  was  a  great  favourite  with  his  soldiers, 
among  whom  he  was  known  as  "  Daddy  Hill." 

t  Fifth  son  of  the  5th  Duke  of  Northumberland  ;  aide-de-camp, 
first  to  Sir  John  Moore,  and  then  to  the  Duke  of  Wellington.  Carried 
the  Duke's  despatches  to  London  after  Waterloo. 

X  Horner  died  in  1S17. 


iSi7-iS.]  JOURNAL.  279 

"  In  the  evening  I  had  a  walk  with  the  Duke  again 
in  the  garden,  and  upon  my  asking  some  question 
about  the  Regent,  as  the  Duke  had  just  come  from 
England,  he  said  : — '  By  God !  you  never  saw  such  a 
figure  in  your  life  as  he  is.  Then  he  speaks  and 
swears  so  like  old  Falstaff,  that  damn  me  if  I  was  not 
ashamed  to  walk  into  a  room  with  him.' 

**  Our  conversation  was  interrupted  by  Mrs. 
Harvey  and  Miss  Caton  coming  up  to  the  Duke  with 
a  Yankee  general  in  their  hands — a  relation  of  theirs, 
just  arrived  from  America  —  General  Harper,  tvhom 
they  presented  to  the  Duke.  It  is  not  amiss  to  see 
these  sisters,  Mrs.  Harvey  and  Miss  Caton,  not  con- 
tent with  passing  themselves  off  for  tip-top  Yankees, 
but  playing  much  greater  people  than  Lady  C. 
Greville  and  Lady  F.  Cole  —  to  me  too,  who  re- 
member their  grandfather,  old  Caton,  a  captain  of  an 
Indiaman  in  Liverpool ;  their  father  an  adventurer  to 
America,  and  know  their  two  aunts  now  at  Liverpool 
— Mrs.  Woodville  and  another,  who  move  in  about 
the  third-rate  society  of  that  town. 

No  date. — *'  Dined  at  Sir  George  Murray's  *  with 
Alava,  General  Harper  and  a  very  large  party.  I  sat 
next  to  Harper,  who  quite  came  up  to  my  notion  of  a 
regular  Yankee.  I  touched  him  upon  the  late  seizure 
of  the  Floridas  by  the  United  States,  but  he  was  as 
plausible,  cunning  and  Jesuitical  as  the  very  devil. 
He  was  singularly  smug  and  spruce  in  his  attire,  and 
looked  just  as  old  Caton  would  have  looked  the  first 
Sunday  after  a  Guinea  voyage — in  new  cloaths  from 
top  to  bottom.  From  the  Floridas  he  went  to 
fashionable  life,  and  asked  me  if  he  could  not  live  very 
genteelly  in  London  for  ;,^6ooo  per  annum. 

"  Sir  George  was  all  politeness  and  good  manners, 
but  he  is  feeble,  tho'  they  say  excellent  in  his  depart- 
ment. He  has  not  a  particle  of  the  talent  of  Barnes, 
nor  do  I  see  any  one  who  has,  except  the  Duke.  He 
[Murray]  and  his  staff  —  Sir  Charles  Brooke  and 
Eckersley — are  for  all  the  world  like  three  old  maids, 

"  The  young  ladies  and  1  were  at  a  ball  at  the 
Duke's,  and  he  was  very  civil  to  us  all,  as  he  always 

*  Wellington's  trusted  and  excellent  Quarlermastcr-General  duriiiL;- 
the  Peninsular  War. 


280  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.       [Ch.  XII. 

is,  and    called  out  to  us  in  going  to  supper  to  sup  at 
his  table. 

''Monday  [jio  other  dah-].  .  .  .  Hope  of  the  Staff 
Corps  is  to  go  on  Thursday  with  dispatches  to  the 
Duke,  and  wishes  me  to  go  with  him  as  he  travels 
in  a  cabriolet,  which  I  most  cordially  consent  to  do. 

"  Thursday. — Hope  and  I  left  Cambray  about  5 
in  the  evening  —  went  thro'  St.  Quintin,  La  Fere, 
&c.  I  was  much  interested  by  Laon  and  its 
vicinity,  as  well  on  account  of  its  singular  position, 
as  having  been  the  theatre  of  so  much  fighting 
between  Blucher  and  Buonaparte  in  18 14.  The 
vineyards,  likewise,  on  the  right  hand  side  of  the 
road  and  on  the  slope  of  the  hills  before  and  after 
Sillery  were  very  pretty.  We  got  to  Chalons 
between  four  and  five,  having  travelled  all  night 
of  course,  and  before  the  Duke;  so  we  got  the 
postmaster  to  let  us  shave  and  clean  ourselves  in 
his  house,  and  that  being  done,  we  sallied  forth  to  a 
restaurateur  to  dine,  leaving  a  special  messenger  on 
the  spot  to  summon  Hope  the  moment  the  Duke's 
courier  arrived.  Hope  was  sent  for  before  we  had 
finished,  and  was  at  the  post  house  with  his  dis- 
patches just  as  the  Duke  drove  up.  I  followed  in  a 
few  minutes.  Hope  had  told  him  I  was  with  him, 
and  when  I  came  he  shook  hands  out  of  the  window. 
On  his  expressing  some  surprise  at  seeing  me  there, 
I  told  him  I  was  trying  how  1  liked  travelling  at  the 
expense  of  Government.  The  Duke  then  said  : — 
'  Come  on  and  dine  with  me  at  Vitry,  Creevey,'  and 
off  he  drove. 

"We  got  to  Vitry  about  ten.  The  Duke  had 
driven  much  faster  than  us,  so  as  to  have  time  to 
answer  his  letters,  and  to  have  the  return  dispatches 
ready  for  Hope.  The  inn  we  found  him  in  was  the 
most  miserable  concern  I  have  ever  beheld — so  small 
and  so  wretched  that  after  we  had  entered  the  gate 
1  could  not  believe  that  we  were  right,  till  the 
Duke,  who  had  heard  the  carriage  enter,  came  out 
of  a  little  wretched  parlour  in  the  gateway,  with- 
out his  hat,  and  on  seeing  me  said  : — 'Come  in  here, 
Creevey:  dinner  is  quite  ready.'  Dinner  accordingly 
was  brought  in  by  a  couple  of  dirty  maids,  and  it 
consisted  of  four  dishes — 2   partridges  at  the  top,  a 


iSi7-iS.]  JOURNAL.  281 

fowl  at  the  bottom,  fricassee  of  chicken  on  one  side 
and  something  equally  substantial  on  the  other.  The 
company  was  the  Duke,  Count  Brozam  [?],  aide-de- 
camp to  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  Hervey,  Sir  Ulysses 
de  Burgh,  Hope  and  myself  Cathcart  and  Cradock 
were  not  come  up,  but  were  expected  every  moment, 

"The  Duke  had  left  Paris  at  5  in  the  morning,  and 
had  come  130  miles,  and  a  cold  fowl  was  all  that  had 
been  eaten  by  his  party  in  the  coach  during  the  day. 
Altho'  the  fare  was  so  scanty,  the  champagne  the 
commonest  of  stuff,  and  the  house  so  bad,  it  seemed 
to  make  no  impression  on  the  Duke.  He  seemed 
quite  as  pleased  and  as  well  satisfied  as  if  he  had 
been  in  a  palace.  He  and  I  had  a  very  agreeable 
conversation  for  an  hour  or  an  hour  and  a  half,  princi- 
pally about  improvements  going  on  in  France,  which 
had  been  begun  by  Buonaparte — land,  &c.,  &c. — and 
then  we  all  went  to  bed. 

"In  the  morning  we  all  breakfasted  together  at 
five  o'clock  punctually.  Our  fare  was  tea  in  a  great 
coffee-pot  about  two  feet  high.  We  had  cups  to 
drink  out  of,  it  is  true;  but  no  saucers.  The  Duke, 
however,  seemed  quite  as  satisfied  with  everything 
as  the  night  before ;  and  when  I  observed,  by  way  of 
a  joke,  that  I  thought  the  tea  not  so  very  bad,  con- 
sidering it  was  made,  I  supposed,  at  Vitry  : — '  No,'  said 
he,  with  that  curious  simplicity  of  his,  'it  is  not:  I 
brought  it  with  me  from  Paris.' 

"  He  gave  Cathcart  and  Cradock  a  rub  for  not 
being  up  the  night  before,  and  then  we  all  got  into 
our  carriages — the  Duke  and  suite  for  Colmar,  and 
Hope  and  I  for  Cambray.  .  .  . 

"  Sunday. — Hope  and  1  got  back  to  Cambray  at 
about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  .  .  .  Lady  Aid- 
borough  came  to  Cambray.  ...  I  am  as  much  con- 
vinced as  ever  that  she  is  the  readiest,  quickest 
person  in  conversation  I  have  ever  seen,  but  she  is 
a  little  too  much  upon  the  full  stretch.  Was  she 
quieter,  she  would  be  more  agreeable.  The  truth  is, 
however,  she  knows  too  well  the  imprudences  of  her 
past  life,  and  she  is  fighting  for  her  place  in  society 
by  the  perpetual  exercise  of  her  talents. 

"  Seph'.  8. — On  the  evening  of  this  day  between  5 
and  6  I  saw  tiie  Duke's  coach  and  six  going  full  speed 


282  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XII. 

on  the  Valenciennes  road,  and  I  found  after  he  was 
running  away  from  the  Duke  of  Kent,  who  had  sent 
to  say  he  was  coming;  so  the  D.  of  W,  dispatched 
Cathcart  to  stop  him,  and  went  off  himself.  .  .  . 

"  Wednesday,  (^th.  —  Barnes  and  I  came  over  to 
Valenciennes  in  his  chaise,  and  got  there  about  half 
an  hour  before  dinner,  1  met  the  Duke  in  the 
street,  and  he  asked  me  laughingly  if  I  had  been 
to  call  on  my  friend  the  Duke  of  Kent,  and  said  I 
should  meet  him  at  dinner.  I  thought  from  this  I 
ought  to  call,  so  Barnes,  Sir  W.  W.  Wynn  (whom 
I  had  picked  up  in  the  street)  and  myself  went 
and  wrote  our  names  at  the  Duke  of  Kent's.  This 
made  us  latish  for  dinner,  and  when  we  got  there 
everybody  almost  was  arrived  —  about  sixty  in 
number,  I  should  say.  As  I  was  so  late,  I  kept 
in  the  background,  but  the  Duke  of  Kent  saw  me 
immediately,  and  forced  his  way  to  me.  After 
shaking  hands  with  me  in  the  most  cordial  manner, 
and  saying  all  kinds  of  civil  and  apparently  most 
friendly  things  to  me  about  my  own  situation  (Mrs. 
Creevey  being  recently  dead  and  myself  being  out 
of  Parliament),  and  the  regret  of  my  friends  in 
England  at  my  absence,  he  began  about  himself. — 
'You  may  probably  be  surprised,  Mr.  Creevey,  at 
seeing  me  here,  considering  the  illness  of  my  poor 
mother;  but  the  Queen  is  a  person  of  the  greatest 
possible  firmness  of  mind,  and  tho'  she  knows 
perfectly  well  that  her  situation  is  a  hopeless  one, 
she  would  not  listen  to  any  offers  of  mine  to  remain 
with  her,  and  indeed  nothing  but  her  pressing  me  to 
come  abroad  could  have  made  me  do  so.' 

"The  Dutchess  of  Kent  had  an  old,  ugly  German 
female  companion  with  her,  and  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton was  going  about  amongst  his  staff  before  dinner, 
saying — '  Who  the  devil  is  to  take  out  the  maid  of 
honor?' and  at  last  said — 'Damme,  Fremantle,  find 
out  the  Mayor  and  let  him  do  it.'  So  the  Mayor  of 
Valenciennes  was  brought  up  for  the  purpose,  and  a 
capital  figure  he  was.  We  had  an  excellent  dinner  in 
a  kind  of  occasional  building,  and  as  I  got  next  Lord 
Arthur  Hill  *  it  was  a  very  agreeable  one.  .  .  . 

*  Afterwards  Lord  Sandys, 


i8i7-i8.]  JOURNAL.  283 

"  Thursday,  lot/i. — Barnes  took  me  out  in  Tiis 
chaise  about  six  or  seven  miles  on  the  road  towards 
Bouchain,  where  we  found  the  troops  on  their 
ground,  and  then  we  got  on  horseback.  The  Saxon 
contingent  I  thought  most  beautiful,  and  the  Danes 
I  thought  the  dirtiest  dogs  I  ever  in  my  life  beheld. 

"  The  Duke  of  Kent's  appearance  was  atrocious. 
He  was  dressed  in  the  Jacket  and  cap  of  his  regiment 
(the  Royals),  and  but  for  his  blue  ribbon  and  star,  he 
might  have  passed  for  an  orderly  sergeant.  The  Duke 
of  Wellington's  appearance  was,  as  it  always  is  on 
such  occasions,  qni'fc  perfect.  I  have  never  seen  any 
one  to  be  compared  to  him,  .  .  .  After  the  review,  we 
went  back  to  Valenciennes,  and  dined  again  with  the 
Duke  of  Wellington.  .  .  .  The  party  to-day  was  much 
less — about  40.  Lord  Darnley,  I  think,  was  the  only 
additional  stranger.  Sir  Lowry  Cole  handed  out 
Mrs.  Hamilton,  Sir  George  Murray  Miss  Ord,  and 
General  Barnes  Miss  E.  Ord,*  and  1  got  next  to  old 
Watkin,  and  talked  over  the  Westminster  election 
with  him.  In  the  evening  the  Duke  gave  a  ball,  which 
was  as  crowded  as  the  very  devil. 

'■^Friday,  11. — This  morning  Barnes  and  I  set  off  to 
see  the  Russian  troops  reviewed.  .  .  .  The  Count 
Woronzow,  Commander-in-chief  of  the  Russians,  had 
sent  forty  pair  of  horses  with  drivers,  &:c.,  &c.,  to  bring 
over  such  English  persons  as  were  to  be  present.  .  .  . 
A  little  short  of  Bovary  we  found  a  relay  of  40  other 
pair  of  horses  standing  in  the  road,  and  these  took  us 
to  the  ground.  .  .  .  Here  again  Cossack  saddle  horses 
were  provided  by  Count  Woronzow  for  all  the 
strangers.  .  .  .  We  had  been  all  invited  beforehand 
to  dine  with  Count  Woronzow,  and  just  as  the  review 
was  finishing,  he  rode  up  to  every  English  carriage  to 
say  he  was  to  have  a  ball  in  the  evening.  .  .  .  After 
dinner,  the  ball  opened,  when  my  delight  was  to  see 
the  Mizurko  danced  by  Madame  Suwarrow  and  her 
brother  the  Prince  Nariskin,  Commander-in-chief  of 
the  Cossacks.  The  Dutchess  of  Kent  waltzed  a  little, 
and  the  Duke  of  Kent  put  his  hand  upon  her  cheek 
to  feel  if  she  was  not  too  hot.  I  believe  it  was  this 
display  of  tenderness  on  his  part  that  made  the  Duke 

"  Crccvey's  step-daughter. 


284  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [CH.  XII. 

of  Wellington  turn  suddenly  to  me  and  say: — 'Well, 
Creevey,  what  has  passed  between  you  and  llie  Corporal 
since  you  have  met  this  time?'  So  I  told  him  of  our 
conversation  on  the  Wednesday  at  his  dinner,  not 
omitting,  of  course,  ihe.  pathetic  part  about  the  Queen  ; 
upon  which  he  laid  hold  of  my  button  and  said  : — 
'  God  damme !  d'ye  know  what  his  sisters  call  him  ? 
By  God !  they  call  him  Joseph  Surface !'  and  then  sent 
out  one  of  his  hearty  laughs,  that  made  every  one 
turn  about  to  the  right  and  left  to  see  what  was  the 
matter.  .  .  . 

"The  Duke  of  Wellington's  constant  joking  with 
me  about  the  Duke  of  Kent  was  owing  to  the  curious 
conversation  I  had  with  the  latter  at  Brussells  in  the 
autumn  of  1817,  the  particulars  of  which  had  always 
amused  the  Duke  of  Wellington  very  much.'"*  .  .  . 

"  Saturday. — We  were  all  invited  to  breakfast  at 
the  Count's  [Woronzow]  this  morning,  but  we  were 
to  go  first  at  9  o'clock  to  see  the  Count's  school,  which 
we  did,  and  saw  400  or  500  private  soldiers  at  their 
lessons — reading,  writing  and  arithmetic,  upon  Lan- 
caster's plan.  Nothing  could  be  nicer  than  the  room, 
or  more  perfect  than  the  establishment.  This  educa- 
tion takes  eight  months,  and  the  whole  army  goes 
through  it  in  turn.  Besides  this,  there  was  another 
school  where  shoe-making,  tayloring  and  other  things 
are  taught.  As  the  Duke  of  Kent  was  to  the  last 
degree  tiresome  in  examining  all  the  details  of  this 
establishment,  and  asked  questions  without  end,  I  ex- 
pressed some  impatience  to  get  to  my  breakfast,  upon 
which  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  who  heard  me,  was 
much  amused,  and  said : — '  I  recommend  you,  when- 
ever you  start  with  any  of  the  Royal  family  in  a 
morning,  and  particularly  with  the  Corporal,  always 
to  breakfast  first'  I  found  he  and  his  staff  had  all 
done  so,  and  his  fun  was  to  keep  saying  all  the  time 
we  were  kept  there — *  Voila  le  monsieur  qui  n'a  pas 
dejeune!'  pointing  to  me. 

"  I  got,  however,  to  my  breakfast  at  last,  and  found 
the  Dutchess  of  Kent  and  other  ladies  there  likewise. 
.  .  .  I  must  say  the  Count  Woronzow  is  one  of  the 
most   captivating    persons    I    have    ever    seen.     He 

*  See  pp.  267-271 


I8i7-i8.]  JOURNAL.  285 

appears  about  35  years  of  age  :  there  is  a  polish  and 
a  simplicity  at  the  same  time  in  his  manner  that  sur- 
passes anything  I  have  ever  seen.  He  seems  all 
work — all  kindness — all  good  breeding — without  a 
particle  of  pride,  ostentation  or  affectation.  I  consider 
him  as  one  of  the  greatest  curiosities  I  have  ever  seen. 

'^September  \jw  date]. — I  dined  at  the  Duke  of 
Wellington's,  and  was  much  pleased  to  find  the  Due 
de  Richelieu  there,  whom  I  had  never  seen  before. 
He  was  just  arrived,  on  his  way  to  the  Congress  at 
Aix-la-chapelle.  The  Duke  of  W.  introduced  me  to 
him,  and  I  never  saw  a  Frenchman  I  took  such  a 
fancy  to  before.  His  excellent  manners,  his  simplicity 
and  his  appearance,  are  most  striking  and  agreeable. 
We  had  a  small  party  and  no  ladies.  From  Sir 
George  Murray  being  between  the  Due  de  Richelieu 
and  myself  at  dinner,  and  my  deaf  ear  towards  him 
into  the  bargain,  I  lost  much  of  his  conversation. 
The  Duke  of  Wellington,  however,  after  Richelieu 
was  gone,  told  me  in  conversation  what  had  passed 
between  them,  which  was  not  amiss.  The  D.  of  R. 
asked  the  D.  of  W.  if  he  had  heard  what  had  passed 
at  the  Hague  the  other  day  at  the  christening  of  the 
Prince  of  Orange's  second  son,  to  which  Wellington 
replied  no.  The  D.  of  R.  then  told  him  that  on  that 
occasion,  there  being  a  dinner  and  /etc,  the  Prince  of 
Orange  had  made  a  flaming  patriotic  oration,  in  which 
he  had  expressed  his  devotion  to  his  Belgic,  as  well 
as  his  Dutch,  compatriots,  and  concluded  by  declaring 
he  would  sacrifice  his  life  in  repelling  any  power  who 
dared  to  invade  their  country.  Upon  which  the  Duke 
of  Wellington  said  to  Richelieu: — 'Who  the  devil 
does  he  mean?  1  suppose  yoic — the  French.' — 'No,' 
answered  Richelieu,  '  it  is  said  he  meant  you — the 
English.'  There  had  been  some  talk  of  an  army  of 
observation  being  formed  of  our  troops,  to  be  kept  in 
the  Netherlands,  so  maybe  it  was  an  allusion  to  this. 

"  1  said  to  the  Duke  what  a  pity  it  was  that  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  after  distinguishing  himself  as  he 
had  done  at  Waterloo,  should  make  such  a  goose  of 
himself:  to  which  Wellington  said  with  his  comical 
simplicity: — 'So  it  is,  but  I  can't  help  it.  I  have  done 
all  I  could  for  him.' 

"Barnes  has  told   me  more  than  once  durinc;  my 


286  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.       [Ch.  XII. 

Stay  at  Cambray  a  fact  about  the  Prince  of  Orange 
which,  incredible  as  I  at  first  thought  it,  must  be  true: 
viz. — that  the  Prince  was  mad  enough  to  listen  to 
some  proposals  made  to  him  by  certain  French  exiles 
as  to  making  him  think  of  France  and  dethroning  old 
Louis  Dix-huit.  Kinnaird  had  often  told  me  there 
was  something  of  this  kind  going  on,  which  I  quite 
scouted ;  and  then  he  told  me  afterwards,  when  he 
was  interrogated  by  the  police  on  the  subject  of 
Wellington's  affair,  that  many  questions  were  put  to 
him  on  the  subject  of  this  plot  in  favor  of  the  Prince 
of  Orange,  and  as  to  what  Kinnaird  knew  about  it ; 
but  Barnes  told  me  that  Fagel,  the  Minister  from  the 
Pays  Bas  at  Paris,  told  him  (Barnes)  that  all  this  was 
perfectly  true ;  and  not  only  so,  but  that  in  conse- 
quence of  it  the  Prince  of  Orange  had  been  obliged  to 
answer  certain  prepared  interrogations  which  were 
put  to  him  by  the  allied  Sovereigns  on  this  subject. 
So  it  must  be  true,  and  Wellington  of  course  knew  it 
to  be  so  during  this  conversation  with  me. 

"  We  had  after  this  a  very  long  conversation,  and 
quite  alone.  I  apologised  for  a  question  I  was  about 
to  ask  him,  and  begged  him  if  I  was  doing  wrong  to 
tell  me  so  immediately.  I  said  Mrs.  Hamilton  expected 
to  be  confined  in  eight  or  ten  weeks,  and  he  would  do 
me  a  signal  favor  if  he  would  tell  me  if  the  army  was 
j'cally  to  leave  France,  as  in  that  case  she  would  never 
run  the  risque  of  being  confined  at  Cambray,  and  left 
after  the  army  was  gone.  He  answered  without  the 
slightest  hesitation  : — *  Oh,  you  must  remove  her  cer- 
tainly. I  shall  begin  to  move  the  army  next  month, 
and  I  hope  by  the  20th  of  November  to  have  got 
everybody  away.*  I  shall  keep  a  single  battalion  for 
myself,  and  shall  be  the  last  to  leave  this  place  ...  so 
remove  Mrs.  Hamilton  to  Bruxelles  or  to  Mons,  but 
certainly  out  of  France.' 

"We  then  went  to  politics,  and  publick  men  and 
publick  speaking.  He  said  much  in  favor  of  Lord 
Grey's  and  Lord  Lansdowne's  speaking.  Of  the 
former  he  said  that,  as  leader  of  the  House  of  Commons 
he  thought  his  manner  and  speaking  quite  perfect ;  and 

*  The  Duke's  farewell  to  the  army  of  occupation  was  issued  as 
ordre-du-joHr  on  30th  October. 


i8i7-i8.]  JOURNAL.  287 

of  Lord  Lansdowne*  he  said  that,  had  he  remained 
in  the  House  of  Commons  he  must  have  been  minister 
of  the  country  long  before  this  time.  *  But,'  said  he, 
'they  are  lost  by  being  in  the  House  of  Lords.  Nobody 
cares  a  damn  for  the  House  of  Lords ;  the  House  of 
Commons  is  everything  in  Englrmd,  and  the  House  of 
Lords  nothing.' 

"  I  then  favored  him  with  my  notions  of  some 
on  the  other  side.  I  said  there  was  no  fact  I  was 
more  convinced  of  than  that  Castlereagh  would  have 
expired  politically  in  the  year  1809 — that  all  the  world 
by  common  consent  had  had  enough  of  him,  and  were 
tired  out — had  it  not  been  for  the  piece  of  perfidy  by 
Canning  to  him  at  that  time,  and  that  this,  and  this 
alone,  had  raised  him  from  the  dead,  and  given  him 
his  present  great  position.  I  then  followed  up  Canning 
on  the  score  of  his  infinite  meanness  in  taking  his 
Lisbon  job  and  filling  his  present  inferior  situation 
under  Castlereagh,  whose  present  situation  lie  (Can- 
ning) held  in  1809,  and  then,  forsooth!  was  too  great 
a  man  to  act  with  Castlereagh  as  his  inferior, 

"All  this  Wellington  listened  to,  it  is  true;  but 
he  would  not  touch  it,t  except  by  saying  he  heard 
Canning  and  Whitbread  have  a  sparring  bout  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  he  thought  Whitbread  had 
much  the  best  of  it.  The  conversation  ended  by 
further  remarks  about  publick  speaking. — 'There's 
the  Due  de  Richelieu,  for  instance,'  he  said,  'altho'  he 
speaks  as  Minister,  and  has  everything  prepared  in 
writing,  you  never  heard  anything  so  bad  in  your  life 
as  his  speaking.' 

"  It  is  a  very  curious  thing  to  have  seen  so  much 
of  this  said  Duke  as  1  have  done  at  different  times, 
considering  the  impostors  that  most  men  in  power 
are — the  insufferable  pretensions  one  meets  with  in 
every  Jack-in-office — the  uniform  frankness  and  simpli- 
city of  Wellington  in  all  the  conversations  1  have 
heard  him  engaged  in,  coupled  with  the  unparalleled 
situation  he  holds  in  the  world  for  an  English  subject, 

*  Formerly  Lord  Henry  Petty. 

t  The  old  soldier  was  far  too  wary  to  give  himself  away,  knowmg, 
as  he  must  have  done,  from  having  heard  all  about  the  Duke  of  Kent's 
confession,  how  freely  Creevcy  repealed  confidential  conversations. 


288  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Cii.  XII. 

make  him  to  me  the  most    interesting  object  I  have 
ever  seen  in  my  life." 

The  following  memorandum,  suggested  by  the 
publication  in  1823  of  O'Meara's  Voice  from  St.  Helena, 
refers  to  the  autumn  of  18 18,  immediately  before  the 
withdrawal  of  the  Army  of  Occupation  and  the  Duke 
of  Wellington's  return  to  England: — 


Memorandiiui. 

"  Having  met  the  Duke  of  Wellington  accidentally 
in  the  Park  at  Brussels,  and  walked  with  him  at  his 
request  to  the  French  Minister's  house,  Monr.  Mallet 
du  Pan,*  and  having  talked  a  good  deal  about  France 
now  that  the  Allies  had  just  evacuated  it,  I  said  : — 

"  '  Well  now,  Duke,  let  me  ask  you,  don't  you  think 
Lowe  a  very  unnecessarily  harsh  gaoler  of  Buona- 
parte at  St.  Helena?  It  is  surely  very  disreputable 
to  us  to  put  any  restraint  upon  him  not  absolutely 
necessary  for  his  detention.'  t 

"  *  By  God!'  he  replied  in  his  usual  manner,  'I 
don't  know.  Buonaparte  is  so  damned  intractable  a 
fellow  there  is  no  knowing  how  to  deal  with  him.  To 
be  sure,  as  to  the  means  employed  to  keep  him  there, 
never  was  anything  so  damned  absurd.  I  know  the 
island  of  St.  Helena  well.  I  looked  at  every  part  of 
it  on  my  return  from  the  East  Indies' — and  then  he 
described  three  or  four  places  as  the  only  ones  by 
which  a  prisoner  could  escape,  and  that  they  were 
capable  of  being  made  quite  inaccessible  by  a  mere 
handful  of  men.  I  then  said,  from  what  I  had  seen  of 
Lowe  at  Brussels  in  1814  and  1815,  he  seemed  to  me 
the  last  man  in  the  world  for  the  general  officer,  from 
his  fidgetty  nature  and  disposition ;  upon  which  the 
Duke  said : — 

*  S/c  in  orig.,  but  Mallet  du  Pan  died  in  1800,  and  never  was  a 
minister. 

t  "The  irritation  displayed  by  the  captive  of  St.  Helena  in  his 
bickerings  with  his  gaoler  affect  most  men  more  than  the  thought  of 
the  nameless  thousands  whom  his  insatiable  egotism  had  hurried  to 
the  grave."     [Lecky's  European  Afcn-als,  i.  139,  ed.  i86g.] 


i8i7-i8.]  SIR    HUDSON    LOWE.  289 

" '  As  for  Lowe,  he  is  a  damned  fool.  When  I 
came  to  Brussels  from  Vienna  in  18 15,  I  found  him 
Quarter-Master-General  of  the  army  here,  and  1  pre- 
sently found  the  damned  fellow  would  instruct  me  in 
the  equipment  of  the  arm}',  always  producing  the 
Prussians  to  me  as  models ;  so  I  was  obliged  to  tell 
him  I  had  commanded  a  much  larger  army  in  the  field 
than  any  Prussian  general,  and  that  I  was  not  to  learn 
from  their  service  how  to  equip  an  army.  I  thought 
this  would  have  stopped  him,  but  shortly  afterwards 
the  damned  fellow  was  at  me  again  about  the  equip- 
ment, &c.,  of  the  Prussians;  so  1  was  obliged  to  write 
home  and  complain  of  him,  and  the  Government  were 
kind  enough  to  take  him  away  from  me.' 

"  During  the  same  autumn  of  1818,  being  one  night 
at  Lady  Charlotte  Greville's,  then  living  at  the  Hotel 
d'Angleterre,  the  Duke  of  Wellington  coming  in  asked 
me  if  I  had  any  news  from  England,  to  which  I  replied 
*  none  but  newspaper  news,'  viz.  that  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  was  or  was  going  to  be  Master  of  the 
Ordnance  :  to  which  he  said  '  Ho  ! '  or  '  Ha ! '  but  quite 
gravely,  and  without  any  contradiction,  so  I  was  sure 
it  was  true.  From  that  hour  he  was  an  altered  man — 
quite  official  in  everything  he  said,  tho'  still  much 
more  natural  and  accessible  than  any  other  official  1 
ever  saw,  except  Fox. 

"A  day  or  two  after  this  conversation  I  met  Alava, 
and,  knowing  his  devotion  to  the  Duke,  1  asked  him 
what  he  thought  of  his  new  situation.  He  said  he 
never  was  more  sorry  for  any  event  in  his  life — that 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  ought  never  to  have  had  any- 
thing to  do  with  politicks — that  he  ought  to  have 
remained,  not  only  as  the  soldier  of  England,  but  of 
Europe,  to  be  ready  to  appear  again  at  its  command 
whenever  his  talents  and  services  might  be  wanted. 
I  have  seen  a  good  deal  of  Alava  at  different  times, 
and  a  more  upright  human  being,  to  all  appearance,  1 
never  beheld." 


The  Opposition,  which  had  lost  one  of  its  candi- 
dates for  leadership  in  1815,  in  the  person  of  Samuel 
Whitbread,  now  lost  nnother  in  Sir  Samuel  Romilly, 

r 


290  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XII. 

and  in  the  same  dreadful  manner — suicide.  In  reply- 
ing to  Mr.  Rennet's  letter  announcing  this  event, 
Creevey  took  occasion  to  reply  also  to  an  earlier  one, 
informing  him  of  Tierney's  election  as  Opposition 
leader  in  the  House  of  Commons,  which  was  little  to 
Creevey's  liking,  for  he  and  the  rest  of"  the  Mountain  " 
had  always  derided  ''Old  Mrs.  Cole"  as  too  timid  for 
the  part. 


My.  Creevey  to  Hon.  H.  G.  Bennef,  M.P. 

'•Brussels,  Dec.  30th,  1818. 

"...  I  must  advert  to  the  great  calamity  we  have 
all  sustained  in  the  death  of  poor  Romilly,  His  loss 
is  perfectly  irreparable.  By  his  courageous  and  con- 
sistent public  conduct,  united  with  his  known  private 
worth,  he  vv^as  rapidly  acquiring  an  authority  over 
men's  minds  that,  had  his  life  been  spared  a  few  years, 
would,  1  think,  have  equalled,  if  not  surpassed,  even 
that  of  Mr.  Yox.  He  indeed  was  a  leader,  that  all  true 
Whigs  would  have  been  proud  to  follow,  however  his 
modesty  might  induce  him  to  decline  being  called  so. 

"And  now  I  am  brought  to  the  question  you  pro- 
pose me — viz. :  what  I  think  of  your  having  chosen 
Tierney  for  the  leader  of  the  Whigs  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  In  the  first  place,  I  think  you  deceive 
yourselves  by  supposing  the  leader  of  the  Whigs  of 
England  to  be  an  article  that  can  be  created  by  election, 
or  merely  by  giving  it  that  name.  A  man  must  make 
himself  such  leader  by  his  talents,  by  his  courage, 
and  above  all  by  the  excellence  and  consistency  of  his 
publick  principles.  It  was  by  such  means  that  Fox 
was  our  leader  without  election  and  that  Romilly  was 
becoming  so,  and  believe  me,  there  is  no  other  process 
by  which  a  leader  can  be  made. 

"  With  respect  to  the  object  of  your  choice — as  a 
piece  of  humour  I  consider  it  quite  inimitable,  and  I 
am  sure  no  one  can  laugh  more  heartily  than  Tierne}' 
himself  in  his  sleeve  as  Leader  of  the  Whigs  ;  indeed  his 
commentary  upon  the  proceeding  is  very  intelligibly, 


SIR    S.\.\lll-:i.    ROMII.IA', 


[To/(ice/>.  290. 


i8i7-i8.]  OBJECTIONS    TO   TIERNEY,  29I 

as  well  as  funnily,  displayed  by  his  administering  a 
kind  of  Luddite  test  to  you,  which  having  once  signed, 
you  are  bound  to  your  captain  for  better  and  for 
worse.  .  .  ." 

Follows  a  very  long  survey  of  Tierney's  public 
career  from  1793  onwards,  and  an  expression  of 
opinion  that  his  opposition  to  Fox,  his  defence  of  the 
East  India  Company,  &c.,  &c.,  had  for  ever  disqualified 
him  for  the  post  to  which  he  had  been  elected. 


(     ^9^    ) 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

1 8 19-1820. 

There  is  almost  a  blank  in  Mr.  Creevey's  correspond- 
ence during  18 19,  in  which  3'ear  he  continued  to  live 
in  Brussels.  This  is  the  more  to  be  regretted  because 
the  fragments  which  remain  are  livel}''  and  full  of 
gossip. 

Lord  Holland  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"St.  James  Square,  19th  Jan.,  1819. 

"...  I  suspect  that  which  you  heard  of  the  pa_v- 
ment  of  cash  at  the  bank  will  not  be  fulfilled  this  year, 
tho'  an  impression  has  been  made  on  the  country  by 
the  executions  for  forgery,  and  on  the  great  bod}' 
of  retail  traders  by  the  forgeries  themselves.*  .  .  . 
Tierney  moves  on  the  subject  on  the  ist  of  next  Feby., 
and  so  changed  is  the  opinion  on  the  subject  since 
you  were  among  us,  that  it  is  selected,  and  wisely 
selected,  as  the  most  popular  question  for  Opposition 
to  begin  with.  The  Annual  Parliaments  and  Universal 
Suffrage  men  are  at  a  discount :  Ministers  worse  than 
ever,  and  the  Whigs,  tho'  better  than  I  have  remem- 
bered them  for  some  years,  far  from  being  in  a  con- 
dition to  lead  with  any  degree  of  certainty  publick 

*  Between  the  suspension  of  cash  payments  by  the  Bank  in 
February,  1797,  and  February,  18 iS,  three  hundred  and  thirteen 
persons  were  sentenced  to  death  for  forgery  ;  whereas  during  the 
fourteen  years,  1783-96,  preceding  such  suspension  the  convictions  had 
only  been  three  in  number.  During  the  six  years,  181 2-1 8,  no  less 
than  131,361  notes,  varying  in  value  from  ^i  to  ^20,  were  detected  as 
forgeries  on  presentation  for  payment. 


i8i9-2o.]     LORD  HOLLAND  UPON  THE  SITUATION.     293 

opinion  and  confidence,  though  I  think  they  are,  of 
the  three  parties,  that  to  which  the  publick  just  now 
look  most  sanguinely  for  assistance  in  accomplishing 
their  object.  What  these  objects  are,  it  is  difficult  to 
conjecture  or  define,  and  perhaps  the  very  indistinct- 
ness of  them  will  lead  the  publick  to  be  disappointed 
with  parties  and  men.  But  that  there  is  great  ex- 
pectation that  much  can,  ought  and  will  be  done  in 
rarliament  is  clear  beyond  doubt,  and  moreover  that 
expectation,  if  uncertain  and  even  impracticable  in  its 
direction,  is  grounded  on  causes  that  lie  too  deep  to 
be  easily  removed.  .  .  .  There  is  a  wonderful  change 
in  the  feelings,  opinions,  condition,  property  and  rela- 
tive state  of  the  classes  in  society.  The  House  of 
Commons  hangs  3^et  more  loosely  upon  parties,  and 
certainly  on  the  Ministerial  part}*,  than  the  last;  and 
the  Ministers,  exclusive  of  many  grounds  of  dissension 
among  themselves  (which  are  suspected,  but  may  not 
be  true),*  are  evidently  aware  and  afraid  of  the  dis- 
positions of  the  new  Parliament.  The  Lords  and 
Grooms  of  the  Windsor  establishment  have  received 
notice  to  quit,  and  no  notice  of  pensions.  Some  say 
that  they  will  muster  an  opposition  to  retrenchment 
in  the  Lords,  which  may  lead  to  a  dispute  between 
the  two  Houses.  Had  they  any  spirit  or  talent  as  well 
as  ill-humour,  our  Ultra's  might  worry  the  Ministers 
on  this  subject  not  a  little;  for  what  is  more  profligate 
than  to  resist  all  retrenchment  at  Windsor  during 
the  Queens  life,  and  on  her  death  to  abandon  the 
establishment — so  necessary,  as  they  contended,  to 
his  [the  King's]  happiness?  .  .  .  Brougham  is  very 
accommodating,  but  not  in  such  spirits  as  he  was.  He 
feels  (indeed  who  does  not?)  the  loss  of  Romilly  doubly 
as  the  session  approaches.  .  .  .  That  mad  fellow 
Verbyst  promised  to  send  over  the  Bipontine  edition 
of  Plato  and  L'Enfant's  Council  of  Pisa.  He  received 
'  \^  franks  for  the  first — so  for  the  last.  He  wrote 
to  say  that  if  he  could  not  get  the  books,  he  would 

*  Here  speaks  the  old  politician,  wary  from  experience.  When 
was  there  ever  a  Ministry  about  which  rumours  of  internal  dissension 
were  not  circulated  and  eagerly  believed  ?  In  Lord  Liverpool's  Cabinet 
the  great  question  of  Roman  Catholic  Emancipation  continued  to  be 
treated  as  an  open  one,  and  Ministers  voted  as  they  pleased. 


294  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIII. 

return  the  money :  he  has  done  neither.  I  should 
prefer  the  books.  Pray  see  him  and  make  him  do  one 
or  other.  .  .  ." 


Earl  of  Lauderdale  to  Mr.  Crecvey. 

"  London,  no  date  [1819]. 

".  .  .  Lord  Lascelles'  son  has  married  Harriet 
Wilson's  sister :  Lord  Langford's — an  old  wretch  of 
the  name  of  Aylmer,  and  there  are  some  people  who 
express  a  dread  that  young  Whitbread  will  marry  a 
woman  who  lives  with  him.  Lord  Byron's  poem,* 
which  I  brought  to  England,  is  returned  to  Venice. 
Murray  the  Bookseller  is  afraid  of  printing  it.  Rogers's 
Poem,  entitled  '  Human  Life,'  is  favorably  talked  of. 
Poor  man,  he  treats  himself  upon  these  occasions  as 
a  woman  does :  he  has  shut  himself  up,  and  seems  to 
think  it  necessary  not  to  go  out  till  his  month  is  up." 


Henry  Brougham,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"5,  Hill  St.,  no  date  [1819]. 
"  My  dear  C, 

"  You  talk  like  an  idiot — a  Liverpolian — a  con- 
centric— a  Pautriot  {quid  plura  ?)  in  all  you  say  about 
the  Jerseys.  I  appeal  to  Bennet  who  was  present  when 
Lady  Jersey  said  how  delighted  she  would  be  to  see 
you  at  Middleton.  But  suppose  I  had  said  you  would 
go  with  me,  and  had  written  to  her  the  day  before — 
that  would  have  been  quite  sufficient.  Rely  upon  me 
— I  am  the  last  and  shyest  man  in  the  world  to  do 
these  things  at  such  places  as  Holland  House,  Chats- 
worth,  Croxteth,  &c.,  but  I  am  on  a  footing  of  friend- 
ship with  the  Jerseys  as  intimate  as  if  I  were  a 
brother,  and  I  know  them  thoroughly,  and  you  may 
trust  me.  But  a  cross  accident  has  for  the  present 
delayed  it  all.  The  D.  of  York  goes  there  the  i6th, 
instead  of  the  6th  (as  he  had  said),  so  our  party  (Sefton, 

*  Doft  yuan. 


i8r9-20.]  DEATH    OF   GEORGE    III.  295 

Thanet,  Ossy,*  &c.)  is  put  off.  Then  Sefton  is  engaged 
to  {illegible]  on  the  30th,  and  to  Sir  H.  Featherstone 
25th  (pray  mention  this  visit  to  him  when  you  write)  ; 
therefore  we  talk  of  Middleton  the  end  of  Jany.  or 
beginning  of  Feby." 

At  theendofiSiQ  or  beginning  of  1S20  Mr.  Creevey 
returned  to  England,  after  an  absence,  apparently  con- 
tinuous, of  six  years.  In  the  interval  he  had  lost  his 
seat  for  Thetford,  and,  by  the  death  of  his  wife,  his 
income  had  fallen  from  a  very  comfortable  figure  to 
extremely  narrow  dimensions.  On  29th  January  the 
long  reign  of  George  III.  came  to  a  close.  The  reign, 
indeed,  had  ended  ten  3'ears  before,  when  the  Regency 
was  proclaimed,  and  the  old  king  had  passed  the  rest 
of  his  days  in  hopeless,  but  harmless,  insanity,  and 
bereft  of  sight.  When  it  became  apparent  that  his'/ 
end  was  at  hand,  the  party  of  the  Princess  of  Wales 
perceived  necessity  for  her  immediate  return  to 
England,  inasmuch  as  the  life  of  the  Regent  seemed 
not  much  better  than  that  of  his  father.  The  Princess 
had  been  wandering  over  Europe  and  the  East,  giving 
rise  to  flagrant  scandal  by  her  irregular  mode  of  life. 
When  her  husband  became  King,  his  Government 
offered  her  ;,^5o,ooo  a  year  to  renounce  her  title  of 
Queen  and  live  abroad  ;  but,  acting  under  the  advice 
of  Brougham,  she  declined  this,  returned  to  London, 
and  the  consequence  was  the  trial  for  divorce  which 
occupied  so  much  of  Creevey's  time  and  corre- 
spondence during  the  3'ear.  Meanwhile  he  paid 
a  visit  under  Brougham's  auspices  to  Lady  Jersey 
at  Middleton.  From  this  time  forward,  his  second 
step-daughter,  Miss  Elizabeth  Ord  —  "Bessy"  and 
"Barry"  of  a  thousand  letters — became  his  constant 
correspondent. 

*  Lord  Ossulston. 


296  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Cil.  XIII. 

Mr.  Crecvey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Middleton  [Lord  Jersey's],  Jan.  21,  18:0. 

"...  We  got  to  Cashiobury  [Lord  Essex's]  at 
I  past  five  on  Wednesday,  too  late  to  see  the  outside 
of  the  house,  and  were  shown  into  a  most  comfortable 
library— a  beautiful  room  50  feet  in  length,  full  of 
books  and  every  comfort.  .  .  .  We  passed  a  most 
agreeable  evening.  I  did  not  see  the  flower  garden, 
which  is  the  great  lion  of  the  place.  Brougham  and  I 
had  a  most  agreeable  drive  here,  not  the  less  so  to  me 
from  the  extraordinary  friendliness  of  him.  .  .  .  We 
arrived  here  yesterday  at  five.  We  found  only  Lord 
Foley  and  Berkeley  Craven,  and  they  are  gone  this 
morning,  so  we  compose  only  a  quartette.  The  house 
is  immensely  large,  apparently,  for  I  have  not  seen  it 
all,  and  cannot  get  out  for  the  immense  fall  of  snow 
during  the  night.  .  .  ." 

"  25rd  January. 

".  .  .  Shall  I  tell  you  what  Lady  Jersey  is  like? 
She  is  like  one  of  her  numerous  gold  and  silver  musical 
dickey  birds,  that  are  in  all  the  shew  rooms  of  this 
house.  She  begins  to  sing  at  eleven  o'clock,  and,  with 
the  interval  of  the  hour  she  retires  to  her  cage  to  rest, 
she  sings  till  12  at  night  without  a  moment's  interrup- 
tion. She  changes  her  feathers  for  dinner,  and  her 
plumage  both  morng.  and  eveng.  is  the  happiest  and 
most  beautiful  I  ever  saw.  Of  the  merits  of  her  songs 
I  say  nothing  till  we  meet.  In  the  meantime  1  will 
say  that  I  presume  we  are  getting  on,  for  this  morning 
her  ladyship  condescended  to  give  me  two  fingers  to 
shake,  and  last  night  asked  me  twice  to  give  her  my 
verses  on  the  Duke  of  Northumberland,  as  she  had 
mislaid  and  could  not  find  the  copy  Gertrude  Bennet 
had  given  her.  .  .  ." 

"  Liverpool,  Jan.  30. 

'*.  .  .  What  think  you  of  the  accounts  of  the  King? 
He  is,  I  apprehend,  rapidly  approaching  to  his  death — 
and  then  for  the  Queen  and  Bruffam !  I  did  not  tell 
3^ou  the  other  day^  he  has  now  in  his  possession  the 
proper  instrument  signed  by  herself,  appointing  him 


SARAH,  corx  i'i:ss  vi    ii  kma 


\_Tofacc p.  296. 


i8i9-2o.]  QUEEN    CAROLINE   REAPPEARS.  297 

her  Attorney-General.  The  moment  she  is  Oueen — 
that  is,  the  moment  the  breath  is  out  of  the  King's 
body — this  gives  Bruffam  instant  rank  in  his  profession, 
such  as  silt:  gown,  precedence,  &c.,  &c.,  in  defiance  of 
King,  Chancellor  and  all  the  \^'orld,  besides  its  im- 
portance in  the  public  eye." 


Houy  Brougham,  M.F.,  to  Mr.  Crcevcy. 

"  Hill  St.,  5th  Feb. 

"Dear  C, 

"Your  advice  has  been  followed  by  anticipa- 
tion (to  speak  Irish) :  at  this  moment  my  courier  is 
within  a  couple  of  days'  journey  of  the  Queen.  He 
was  despatched  on  Sunday,  for  I  had  early  notice 
from  the  D.  of  Sussex  *  coming  to  my  bedside  at  2  in 
the  morning.  The  courier  (Sicard)  was  with  me  by 
7,  and  after  some  delay  for  a  passport  from  the  P. 
Minister,  he  was  off.  He  took  my  appointment  and 
Denman's  as  Atty.  and  Solr,  General,  as  I  did  not  like 
to  use  the  blank  one  I  have  with  me.  He  also  took  a 
letter  from  me,  giving  her  no  choice,  but  commanding 
her  instantly  to  set  out  by  land,  and  be  at  Brussells  or 
Paris  or  Calais  immediatel}^  Then  she  will  demand 
a  yatch. 

"Now — the  young  Kingf  has  been  as  near  death 
as  any  man  but  poor  Kent  ever  was  before — 150  oz. 
of  blood  let  have  saved  his  precious  life.  I  never 
prayed  so  heartily  for  a  Prince  before.  If  he  had 
gone,  all  the  troubles  of  these  villains  X  went  with 
him,  and  they  had  Fred.  I.  §  their  own  man  for  his  life 
— i.e.  a  shady  Tory-professional  King,  who  would  have 
done  a  job  or  two  for  Lauderdale,  smiled  on  Lady 
jj^ersey],  been  civil  at  Holland  House,  and  shot  Tom 
Coke's  II  legs  and  birds,  without  ever  deviating  right 
hand  or  left,  or   giving  them,^[  politically^  the  least 

*  About  the  King's  danger. 

t  Young,  not  in  years,  but  in  reign.     It  was  just  a  week  since  the 
accession. 

X  Ministers. 

§  The  Duke  of  York. 

II  Of  Holkham,  created  Earl  nf  Leicester  in  1837. 

H  Ministers. 


398  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIII. 

annoyance.  This  King  they  will  have  too,  for  the 
present  man  can't  long  survive.  He  (Fred.  I.)  won't 
live  long  either  ;  *  that  Prince  of  Blackguards  '  Brother 
William  '  is  as  bad  a  life,t  so  we  come  in  the  course 
of  nature  to  be  assassinated  by  King  Ernest  I.  or 
Regent  Ernest.  X 

"  Meanwhile,  the  change  of  name  which  Mrs.  P.  § 
has  undergone  has  had  a  wondrous  effect  on  publick 
feeling.  She  is  extremely  popular.  .  .  .  The  cry  at  the 
Proclamation  was  God  save  the  Queen !  but  Perry 
durst  not  put  it  in  his  paper,  tho'  with  the  respect- 
ability which  belongs  to  Mackintosh's  gent  of  the 
Daily  Press.     He  told  me  all  this  in  private. 

"  The  rage  of  the  new  monarch  against  Leach  and 
Eldon  and  Co.  exceeds  all  bounds.  He  finds  he  has 
now  a  Queen  in  possession  to  \illcgible],  she  having 
70  places  (some  of  them  very  fat  ones)  to  give  away, 
I  think  of  making  her  replace  or  offer  to  replace  all 
the  old  Queen's  pensioned  household,  to  save  salaries, 
and  stopthe  mouths  of  a  few  courtiers,  who  will  soon 
find  out  that  she  has  every  virtue. 

"  Yours, 

"  H.  B." 

The  demise  of  the  Monarch  rendered  necessary, 
according  to  the  constitutional  law  of  those  days,  a 
dissolution  of  Parliament,  and  this  was  accordingly 
effected  by  Royal  Proclamation  on  29th  February. 
Mr.  Creevey  was  returned  for  the  borough  of 
Appleby,  by  favour  of  his  friend  the  Earl  of  Thanet. 
Mr.  Wilbraham,  writing  to  Lord  Colchester,  the 
former  Speaker,  observed :  "  I  see  no  material  change 
in  your  old  dominions,  the  House  of  Commons,  which 
is  constituted  of  much  the  same  materials  as  the  last, 
with  the  addition  of  Creevey,  who  has  become  a  great 
orator  in  his  old  age." 

*  He  died  in  1827. 

t  The  Duke  of  Clarence  [William  IV.]. 

%  The  Duke  of  Cumberland. 

§  The  Princess  of  Wales,  who  had  become  Queen  Caroline. 


iSi9-2o.]      DISSENSION    IN   THE    OPPOSITION.  299 

The  profit  which  "  the  Mountain  "  had  been  wait- 
ing so  long  and  impatiently  to  derive  from  the  return 
of  Queen  Caroline  turned  to  ashes  in  their  hands. 
Popular  sympathy,  indeed,  was  vehemently— danger- 
ously—in  her  favour,  and  the  name  of  George  IV.  had 
only  to  be  mentioned  to  create  a  hostile  manifestation. 
So  far  so  good,  from  the  Mountain's  point  of  view ; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  question  thus  revived  only 
made  more  manifest  the  schism  in  the  Opposition. 
Lord  Grey  and  the  Old  Whigs  shrank  from  espousing 
the  cause  of  the  Queen,  which,  however  just  it  might 
be,  was  in  truth  exceedingly  humiliating  and  even  un- 
savoury. Holland  House  held  aloof  from  the  move- 
ment, and  there  appears  in  consequence  a  marked 
change  in  the  references  by  Creevey  and  his  friends 
to  that  great  Whig  rendezvous  and  its  inmates. 


Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Liverpool,  24th  July.  "T 

",  .  .  As  for  the  wretched  dirt  and  'meanness  of 
Holland  House,  it  makes  me  perfectly  sick.  I  have 
had  the  same  story  from  Brougham  some  months 
back,  who  was  then  himself  a  competitor  with 
Mackintosh  for  an  epitaph  upon  poor  P^ox's  tomb- 
stone. He  repeated  to  me  the  thing  got  up  by 
Mackintosh,  which  was  fifty  thousand  times  interior 
to  the  lowest  ballad  in  favor  of  the  Queen.  But 
Holland  House  has  quite  made  up  fits  mind  that  the 
two  great  and  brilliant  features  of  Fox's  publick  life 
(his  resistance  to  the  war  upon  America  and  the 
glorious  fight  which  he  made  single-handed  against 
helping  the  Bourbons  to  trample  on  the  trench 
nation)  shall  never  have  the  sanction  of  either  my 
lady  or  Mackintosh  to  appear  in  his  history,  and 
all  this,  least  it  might  interfere  with  any  arrange- 
ment.  This  is  the  "true  history  of  this  despicable 
twaddling.  .  .  ." 


500  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIII. 


The  Earl  of  Scffon  to  Mr.  Creevey.  = 

".  .  .  Have  you  heard  of  the  competition  about 
the  inscription  for  Fox's  monument?  Nothing  can 
be  more  ridiculous  than  the  intrigues  about  it  at 
Holland  House.  Mackintosh's  was  preferred  there 
to  Grey's,  tho'  by  all  accounts  it  was  great  trash  and 
Grey's  very  good.  Lady  H.  found  fault  with  the 
latter,  and  it  was  agreed  that  Mrs,  Fox's  opinion 
should  be  asked.  She  answered  in  Ly.  H.'s  words, 
and  showed  plainly  she  had  been  prepared  with  a 
reply.  The  end  is,  the  monument  is  to  be  without 
any  inscription  but  C.  J.  Fox.  Can  you  conceive, 
in  times  like  these,  such  stuff  being  made  of  im- 
portance?" 

In  regard  to  the  proceedings  of  and  against  Queen 
Caroline,  which  formed  the  chief  topic  of  public 
interest  and  gossip  after  the  elections  were  decided, 
there  is  a  vast  amount  of  correspondence  among  Mr. 
Creevey's  papers.  He  seems  to  have  mistrusted 
Brougham  throughout,  who,  of  course,  can  be  easily 
perceived,  at  this  distance  of  time,  to  have  behaved 
with  the  utmost  cynicism,  and  to  have  treated  the 
Queen  and  her  cause  as  so  much  capital,  to  be  turned 
to  profit  for  his  party,  and,  above  all,  for  himself. 
Creevey  seems  to  have  been  swayed  alternately  by 
indignation  at  Brougham's  insincerity  and  admiration 
for  his  sagacity  and  rhetoric. 

The  facts  of  the  case  are  matters  of  well-known 
history.  It  is  only  expedient  to  recapitulate  the  chief 
stages  in  the  melancholy  story,  and  to  extract  from 
Creevey's  daily  letters  during  the  trial  those  passages 
which  bring  the  tragic  scene  most  vividly  before  the 
reader. 

The  reports  of  the  Princess  of  Wales's  proceedings 


l8i9-:3o.]      DOES    BROUGHAM    RUN    STRAIGHT?  301 

in  the  south  of  Europe,  notably  of  the  familiar  terms 
to  which  she  habitually  admitted  a  male  servant 
named  Bergami,  had  become  so  persistent  and  specific 
that  they  could  no  longer  be  disregarded.  So,  at 
least,  thought  the  Prince  Regent  and  his  Ministers, 
Accordingly  in  1818  a  commission  was  appointed  and 
sent  into  Germany  and  Italy  to  collect  such  evidence 
as  might  afford  ground  for  a  divorce.  The  matter 
was  of  the  greater  gravity  inasmuch  as  infidelity  on 
the  part  of  the  Queen  Consort  or  wife  of  the  Heir 
Apparent  constituted  high  treason  and  was  punish- 
able by  death. 

In  June,  1819,  Brougham  made  a  proposal  to  Lord 
Liverpool  on  behalf,  but  without  the  knowledge,  of 
the  Princess  of  Wales,  binding  her  to  reside  per- 
manently abroad  and  never  to  assume  the  rank  and 
title  of  Queen  of  England,  on  condition  that  her 
allowance  of  i^35,ooo  a  year  should  be  secured  to  her 
for  life,  instead  of  terminating  with  the  demise  of  the 
Crown.  Lord  Liverpool  replied  that  there  would  be 
no  unwillingness  to  treat  on  these  terms,  if  her  Ro^'al 
Highness  gave  her  approval  to  them.  Needless  to 
say  that  such  a  proposal,  coming  from  the  Princess's 
principal  legal  adviser  at  such  a  time,  or,  indeed,  at 
any  time,  was  considered  tantamount  to  an  acknow- 
ledgment of  her  guilt,  or,  at  least,  want  of  confidence 
in  her  defence. 

In  September  of  that  year  Brougham  desired  the 
Princess  to  meet  him  at  Lyons,  but  although  she 
went  there  and  waited  for  him  several  weeks,  he 
never  took  the  trouble  to  keep  the  appointment,  and 
no  consultation  took  place  between  them  upon  the 
negotiation  with  Lord  Liverpool. 

On  the  accession  of  George  I\'.  Caroline  became 


302  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Cn.  XIII. 

dc  facto  Queen  of  England.  The  King  pressed 
vehemently  that  she  should  be  brought  to  trial ;  his 
Ministers  shrank  from  the  obloquy  which  would  fall 
upon  the  Crown  whatever  might  be  the  result  of 
such  a  trial.  The  King  exercised  his  prerogative  in 
forbidding  the  Queen's  name  to  be  printed  in  the 
Liturgy,  and  that  she  should  be  named  in  the  public 
prayers  of  the  Established  Churches. 

On  15th  April  Lord  Liverpool  communicated  to 
Brougham  an  offer  identical  with  Brougham's  of  the 
previous  year,  except  that  the  allowance  to  be  paid 
was  increased  from  ^^35,000  to  ;^5o,ooo  a  year.  One 
of  the  least  defensible  points  in  Brougham's  conduct 
in  regard  to  this  case  was  that  he  neither  communi- 
cated this  proposal  to  Queen  Caroline,  nor,  on  the 
other  hand,  informed  the  Cabinet  that  it  had  not  been 
made  known  to  her  Majesty. 

In  March  Queen  Caroline  published  a  manifesto 
in  the  newspapers,  setting  forth  some  of  her  griev- 
ances ;  in  May  she  began  to  travel  north,  and  invited 
Brougham  to  meet  her,  which  he  did,  accompanied 
by  Lord  Hutchinson,  at  Saint  Omer,  on  3rd  June. 
Brougham  made  known  to  the  Queen  that  Hutchinson 
was  charged  with  certain  proposals  on  her  behalf 
from  the  Government,  namely,  the  terms  which 
Brougham  ought  to  have  made  known  to  her  long 
before.  These  terms  having  been  submitted  to  her 
Majesty,  she  emphatically  refused  them,  acting  under 
Brougham's  advice. 

Leaving  Brougham  at  Saint  Omer,  the  Queen, 
accompanied  by  Alderman  Wood  and  his  son,  Lady 
Anne  Hamilton,  and  a  person  named  Austin,  sailed 
from  Calais,  and  landed  at  Dover  on  6th  June.  She 
was  received  by  a  royal  salute  from  the  garrison,  and 


i8i9-2o.]      THE    QUESTION    OF   THE    LITURGY.  303 

travelled  to  London  in  a  kind  of  triumphal  procession, 
arriving  there  the  following  day.  The  mob  were 
vehemently  in  her  favour  ;  all  houses  were  illuminated 
— some  from  sympathy,  many  out  of  fear  that  the 
windows  would  be  smashed  in,  and  the  most  crying 
scandal  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  well  under 
way.  Lord  Liverpool  brought  a  message  to  the 
House  of  Lords  from  the  King,  announcing  that  his 
Majesty  "  thinks  it  necessary,  in  consequence  of  the 
arrival  of  the  Queen,  to  communicate  to  the  House  of 
Lords  certain  papers  respecting  the  conduct  of  her 
Majesty  since  her  departure  from  this  Kingdom, 
which  he  recommends  to  the  immediate  and  serious 
attention  of  the  House."  A  similar  message  was 
communicated  to  the  House  of  Commons  by  Lord 
Castlereagh.  Negotiations  with  the  Queen  were 
opened  in  order  to  induce  her  to  leave  the  country 
quietl}^  Lords  Fitzwilliam  and  Sefton  being  appointed 
to  act  for  her  Majesty,  the  Duke  of  Wellington  and 
Lord  Castlereagh  for  the  King's  Government.  This 
stamped  the  proceedings  emphatically  as  a  party 
contest,  and  this  character  was  further  emphasised 
later  by  the  substitution  of  Messrs.  Brougham  and 
Denman,  Attorney-General  and  Solicitor-General  to 
the  Queen,  for  the  two  Whig  Lords. 

After  five  days'  conference,  the  negotiations  broke 
down  upon  the  question  of  restoring  to  tlie  Liturgy 
the  name  of  '*  our  most  gracious  Queen- Caroline." 
Upon  that  point  King  George  was  inflexible.  When 
Brougham  insisted  upon  it,  "  You  might  as  easily 
move  Carlton  House,"  said  Castlereagh.  The  fer- 
ment out-of-doors  was  mounting  and  spreading. 
Meetings  were  got  up  all  over  the  country  to  protest 
against  the  persecution  of  the  Queen.     There  was  no 


304  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIII. 

regular  police  force  in  London  at  this  time;*  the 
Guards  were  relied  upon  for  maintaining  public 
order,  but  the  Guards  had  shown  strong  partiality 
for  the  Queen  against  the  Government,  and  one 
battalion  was  in  actual  mutiny.  On  19th  June  a 
debate  arose  in  the  House  of  Commons  upon  the 
King's  refusal  to  restore  his  Consort's  name  to  the 
Liturgy,  in  the  course  of  which  Denman  used  words 
which  found  an  echo  in  millions  of  hearts  throughout 
the  realm.  It  had  been  urged  from  the  Treasury 
Bench  that  even  though  the  Queen  was  not  mentioned 
by  name  in  the  Liturgy,  she  might  be  held  as  included 
in  the  general  prayer  for  the  royal  family.  "  If  her 
Majesty,"  retorted  Denman,  "is  included  in  any 
general  prayer,  it  is  in  the  prayer  for  all  who  are 
desolate  and  oppressed." 

On  5th  July  Lord  Liverpool  introduced  in  the 
Lords  a  Bill  "  to  deprive  her  Majesty  Queen  Caroline 
Amelia  Elizabeth  of  the  title,  prerogative  rights, 
privileges  and  exemptions  of  Queen  Consort  of  this 
realm,  and  to  dissolve  the  marriage  between  his 
Majesty  and  the  said  Caroline  Amelia  Elizabeth." 

The  second  reading  was  taken  in  the  Lords  on 
17th  August,  and  showed  a  singular  combination  of 
judicial  and  parliamentary  procedure,  evidence  being 
taken  for  prosecution  and  defence,  and  the  verdict 
given  in  the  division  on  the  second  reading,  which 
did  not  take  place  till  November,  when  it  was  carried 
by  123  votes  to  95. 

In  Mr.  Creevey's  daily  letters  to  Miss  Ord,  from 
which  a  number  of  extracts  follow,  will  be  found  some 
curious  personal  impressions  of  the  painful  scene. 

*  The  origin  of  the  present  police  force  may  be  traced  in  a  memo- 
random  by  the  Duke  of  Wellington  upon  the  situation  at  this  time 
{Civil  De'spaiches,  i.  128]. 


iSi9-20.]  OPINION   AT   KNOWSLEY.  305 

Mr.  Crecvcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Knowsley,  7th  August,  1820. 

"...   I  came  here  on  Saturday.     I  like  Lady  Mary  * 

better  every  time  I  see  her.     You  know  what  a  d d 

ramshackle  of  a  library  they  have  here,  so  I  was 
complaining  at  breakfast  this  morning  that  they  had 
no  State  Trials  in  the  house ;  upon  which  Lady  Mary 
said  she  was  sure  she  could  find  some,  and  accord- 
ingly flew  from  her  breakfast  and  came  back  in 
triumph  at  having  found  them  for  me.  Upon  the 
subject  of  the  Queen,  my  lord  and  my  lady  are  both 
substantially  right,  /.r.,  in  thinking  there  is  not  a  pin  to 
chuse  between  them,  and  that  the  latter  has  been 
always  ill-used,  and  that  nobody  but  the  King  could 
get  redress  in  such  a  case  against  his  wife.  Little 
Derby  goes  further  than  the  Countess,  when  she  is 
not  by ;  but  she  thinks  it  proper  to  deprecate  all 
violence,  and  says,  tho'  Bennet  and  I  are  excellent 
men,  and  she  likes  us  both  extremely,  still,  that  we 
are  like  Dives,  and  that  Lazarus  ought  to  come 
occasionally  and  cool  our  tongues.  Is  not  this  the 
image  of  her  ?  " 

"Liverpool,  12th  August, 
"  I  left  Knowsley  yesterday.  Lord  Derby  has 
received  a  letter  from  Lord  Roslyn,  telling  him  there 
had  been  a  devil  of  a  blow  up  between  the  King  and 
Duke  of  York.  The  latter  wanted  to  absent  himself 
from  the  approaching  trial  of  the  Queen;  I  presume 
from  feelings  of  delicacy  in  his  situation  as  having 
lost  his  wife.t  The  King,  however,  was  furious,  and 
has  commanded  the  Duke  to  be  present  on  Thursda}-. 
...  I  cannot  resist  the  curiosity  of  seeing  a  Queen 
tried.  From  the  House  of  Lords  or  from  Brooks's 
you  shall  have  a  daily  account  of  what  passes." 

''London,  i6th  August. 
"...   I  am  just  come  from  Lord  Sefton.     1  learn 
from   him   that   Lord   Spencer  has  had  an  interview 
with  Lord  Liverpool,  the  object  of  it  being  friendl}' 

*  Lady  Mary  Stanley,  married  the  2nd  Earl  of  Wilton  in  1821. 
t  The  Duchess  of  York  died  on  6th  .August,  1S20. 


306  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIII. 

on  the  part  of  Lord  Spencer,  at  the  same  time  to 
implore  Liverpool  to  pause,  and  to  retract  indeed^ 
before  this  terrible  work  was  entered  upon.  Liver- 
pool was  friendly- in  return,  and  quite  unreserved.  .  .  . 
Lord  Spencer  was  decidedly  of  opinion  that  the  very 
openness  of  the  Queen's  conduct  carried  with  it  her 
acquittal  from  the  supposed  crime.  This  is  most 
curious  from  such  a  solemn  chap  as  old  Spencer.  .'.  ." 


"  House  of  Lords,  August  i6th. 

".  .  .  This  is  ver3'  convenient.  There  is  not  only 
the  usual  admission  for  the  House  of  Commons  upon 
the  [steps  of]  the  Throne,*'  but  pen,  ink  and  paper  for 
our  accommodation  in  the  long  gallery.  There  is  a 
fine  chair  for  the  Queen  within  the  bar,  to  be  near  her 
counsel  and  the  two  galleries.  This  makes  all  the 
difference.  Two  hundred  and  fifty  peers  are  to 
attend,  60  being  excused  from  age,  infirmities,  being 
abroad  or  professing  the  Catholic  faith. 

"  Wilberforce  told  Bennet  that  the  act  of  his  life 
which  he  most  reproached  himself  with  was  not 
having  moved  to  restore  the  Queen  to  the  Liturgy, 
and  he  was  sure  this  was  the  only  course.  Grey  says 
the  Queen  ought  to  be  sent  to  the  Tower  for  her 
letter  to  the  King. 

"  Here  is  Castlereagh,  smiling  as  usual,  though  I 
think  awkwardly.  .  .  .  Sir  Thomas  Tyrwhitt  has  just 
been  here  and  tho'  in  his  official  dress  as  Black  Rod, 
was  most  communicative.  He  says  the  Government 
is  stark,  staring  mad  ;  that  they  want  to  prevent  his 
receiving  the  Queen  to-morrow  at  the  door  as  Queen, 
but  that  he  wilL  ..." 

"17th  August. 

".  .  .  Near  the  House  of  Lords  there  is  a  fence  of 
railing  put  across  the  street  from  the  Exchequer 
coff'ee-house  to  the  enclosed  garden  ground  joining  to 
St.  Margaret's  churchyard,  through  which  members 
of  both  Houses  were  alone  permitted  to  pass.  A 
minute  after  I  passed,  I  heard  an  uproar,  with  hissing 

*  In  the  present  House  of  Lords  admission  to  the  steps  of  the 
throne  is  restricted  to  Privy  Councillors  and  sons  of  Peers  ;  accom- 
modation being  provided  elsewhere  for  the  Commons. 


iSi9-2o.]  OPENING   OF   THE  TRIAL.  307 

and  shouting.  On  turning  round  I  saw  it  was  Wel- 
lington on  horseback.  His  horse  made  a  little  start, 
and  he  looked  round  with  some  surprise.  He  caught 
my  eye  as  he  passed,  and  nodded,  but  was  evidently 
annoyed. 

"  I  got  easily  into  the  Lords  and  to  a  place  within 
two  yards  of  the  chair  placed  for  the  Queen,  on  the 
right  hand  of  the  throne,  close  to  its  steps.  They 
proceeded  to  call  over  the  House  and  to  receive 
excuses  from  absent  peers.  As  the  operation  was 
going  on,  people  came  in  who  said  the  Queen  was  on 
her  way  and  as  far  as  Charing  Cross.  Two  minutes 
after,  the  shouts  of  the  populace  announced  her  near 
approach,  and  some  minutes  after,  two  folding  doors 
within  a  few  feet  of  me  were  suddenly  thrown  open, 
and  in  entered  her  Majesty.  To  describe  to  you  her 
appearance  and  manner  is  far  beyond  my  powers.  I 
had  been  taught  to  believe  she  was  as  much  improved 
in  looks  as  in  dignity  of  manners  ;  it  is  therefore  with 
much  pain  I  am  obliged  to  observe  that  the  nearest 
resemblance  I  can  recollect  to  this  much-injured 
Princess  is  a  toy  which  you  used  to  call  Fanny 
Royds.*  There  is  another  toy  of  a  rabbit  or  a  cat, 
whose  tail  you  squeeze  under  its  body,  and  then  out 
it  jumps  in  half  a  minute  off  the  ground  into  the  air. 
The  first  of  these  toys  you  must  suppose  to  represent 
the  person  of  the  Queen  ;  the  latter  the  manner  by 
which  she  popped  all  at  once  into  the  House,  made  a 
duck  at  the  throne,  another  to  the  Peers,  and  a  con- 
cluding jump  into  the  chair  which  was  placed  for  her. 
Her  dress  was  black  figured  gauze,  with  a  good  deal 
of  trimming,  lace,  &c. :  her  sleeves  white,  and  per- 
fectly episcopal ;  a  handsome  white  veil,  so  thick  as 
to  make  it  very  difficult  to  me,  who  was  as  near  to 
her  as  any  one,  to  see  her  face ;  such  a  back  for 
variety  and  inequality  of  ground  as  you  never  beheld  ; 
with  a  few  straggling  ringlets  on  her  neck,  which  I 
flatter  myself  from  their  appearance  were  not  her 
Majesty's  own  property. 

"  She  squatted  into  her  chair  with  such  a  grace  that 
the  gown  is  at  this  moment  hanging  over  every  part 

*  A  Dutch  toy  with  a  round  bottom,  weighted  witli  lead,  so  that  it 
always  jumps  erect  in  whatever  position  it  is  laid. 


3o8  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIII. 

of  it— both  back  and  elbows.  .  .  .  When  the  Queen 
entered,  the  Lords  (Bishops  and  all)  rose,  and  then 
they  fell  to  calling  over  the  House  again  and  receiving 
excuses.  When  the  Duke  of  Sussex's  name  was  called, 
the  Chancellor  read  his  letter,  begging  to  be  excused 
on  the  ground  of  consanguinity  ;  upon  which  the  Duke 
of  York  rose,  and  in  a  very  marked  and  angry  tone 
said  : — '/have  much  stronger  ground  for  asking  leave 
of  absence  than  the  Duke  of  Sussex,  and  yet  I  should 
be  ashamed  not  to  be  present  to  do  my  duty ! '  This 
indiscreet  observation  (to  say  no  worse  of  it)  was  by 
no  means  well  received  or  well  thought  of,  and  when 
the  question  was  put  'that  the  Duke  of  Sussex  be 
excused  upon  his  letter,'  the  House  granted  it  with 
scarce  a  dissentient  voice.  Pretty  well,  this,  for  the 
Duke  of  York's  observation  ! 

"  Well—this  finished,  and  the  order  read  '  that  the 
House  do  proceed  with  the  Bill,'  the  Duke  of  Leinster 
rose  and  said  in  a  purely  Irish  tone  that,  without 
making  any  elaborate  speech,  and  for  the  purpose  of 
bringing  this  business  to  a  conclusion,  he  should  move 
that  this  order  be  now  rescinded.  Without  a  word 
from  any  one  on  this  subject  the  House  divided,  we 
members  of  the  Commons  House  remaining.  There 
were  41  for  Leinster  and  206  (including  17  Bishops) 
against  him  ;  but,  what  was  more  remarkable,  there 
were  20  at  least  of  our  Peers  who  voted  against  the 
Duke  of  Leinster— as  Grey,  Lansdowne,  Derby,  Fitz- 
william,  Spencer,  Erskine,  Grafton,  de'  Clifford,  Dar- 
lington, Yarborough,  &c.  Lord  Kenyon  and  Lord 
Stanhope  were  the  only  persons  who  struck  me  in 
the  Opposition  as  new.  The  Duke  of  Gloucester 
would  not  vote,  notwithstanding  cousin  York's  obser- 
vations. Holland,  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  old  Fortescue, 
Thanet,  &c.,  were  of  course  in  the  rninority.  .  .  .  This 
division  being  over,  Carnarvon  objected  in  a  capital 
speech  to  any  further  proceeding,  and  was  more 
cheered  than  is  usual  with  the  Lords ;  but  no  doubt 
it  was  from  our  40  friends.  Then  came  Grey  and  I 
think  he  made  as  weak  a  speech  as  ever  I  heard  :  so 
thought  Brougham  and  Denman  who  were  by  me. 
He  wanted  the  opinion  of  the  Judges  upon  the  statute 
of  Edward  HI.  as  to  a  Queen's  treason,  and  after 
speeches    from    Eldon,    Liverpool    and    Lansdowne, 


iSi9-2o.]  PROCEEDINGS    IN   THE    LORDS.  309 

Grey's  motion  is  acceded  to,  and  the  Judges  are  now 
out  preparing  their  opinion,  and  all  is  at  a  stand. 

"  I  forgot  to  say  Lady  Ann  Hamilton  *  waits  behind 
the  Queen,  and  that,  for  effect  and  delicacy's  sake,  she 
leans  on  brother  Archy's  f  arm,  tho'  she  is  full  six  feet 
high,  and  bears  a  striking  resemblance  to  one  of  Lord 
Derby's  great  red  deer.  Keppel  Craven  and  Sir  William 
Gell  likewise  stand  behind  the  Queen  in  full  dress.  .  .  . 
Lord  John  Russell  t  is  writing  on  m}^  right  hand,  and 
Sir  Hussey  Vivian  §  on  my  left.  I  have  just  read  over 
ni}^  account  of  the  Queen  to  the  latter,  and  he  deposes 
to  its  perfect  truth. 

"  I  have  just  given  this  lad,  Lord  John,  such  a  fire 
for  his  buttering  of  Wilberforce  ||  that  he  had  more 
blood  in  his  little  white  face  than  I  ever  saw  before ; 
but  all  the  Russells  are  excellent,  and  in  my  opinion 
there  is  nothing  in  the  aristocracy  to  be  compared  with 
this  family." 

"  P"oiir  o'clock. 

"Well,  the  Judges  returned,  as  one  knew  they 
would,  saying  there  was  no  statute-law  or  law  of  the 
land  touching  the  Queen's  case.  Then  counsel  were 
called  in ;  upon  which  the  Duke  of  Hamilton,  in  a 
most  excellent  manner,  ask'd  Mr.  Attorney  General 
for  whom  he  appeared,  or  by  whose  instructions.  A 
more  gravelling  question  could  not  well  be  put,  as 
appeared  by  Mr.  Attorney's  manner.  He  shifted  and 
shuffled  about,  and  Liverpool  helped,  and  Lord  Bel- 
haven  ended  the  conversation  by  declaring  his  utter 
ignorance  of  the  prosecution — whether  it  was  by  the 
Crown,  the  Ministers,  or  the  House  of  Lords.  .  .  . 
There  are  great  crowds  of  people  about  the  House, 
and  all  the  way  up  Parliament  Street.  The  Guards, 
both  horse  and  foot,  are  there  too  in  great  numbers, 
but  I  saw  nothing  except  good  humour  on  all  sides. 

*  Second  daughter  of  the  9th  Duke  of  Hamilton. 

t  Lord  Archibald  Hamilton,  M.P.,  second  son  of  the  9th  Duke  of 
Hamilton. 

X  Afterwards  Prime  Minister  ;  created  Earl  Russell  in  iS6i. 

§  Commanded  the  Light  Cavalry  Brigade  at  Waterloo ;  created  a 
baronet  in  1828,  and  Lord  Vivian  in  1841. 

II  Lord  John  had  written  to  Wilberforce  upon  the  Queen's  trial, 
complimenting  him  incidentally  upon  his  talents. 


3IO  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIII. 

The  Civil  Power  has  regained  the  Pass  of  Killiecranky  * 
again,  but  it  is  fought  for  every  time  a  carriage 
passes.  .  .  ." 

"  Brooks's,  5  o'clock. 
"  Brougham  in  his  speech  has  fired  a  body  blow 
into  the  Duke  of  York  on  Mrs.  Clark's  affair,  which 
has  given  great  offence." 

"York  St.,  iSth  Aug. 

".  .  .  Brougham's  speech  (the  last  hour  of  which 
I  did  not  hear)  is  allowed  on  all  hands  to  have  been 
excellent.  We  had  a  full  Brooks's  last  night,  and  much 
jaw ;  Grey  affable,  quite  sure  the  bill  will  be  knocked 
up  sooner  or  later,  and  offering  to  take  [?  lay]  ten  to 
one  it  will  disappear,  even  in  the  Lords,  before  Satur- 
day fortnight.  He  knows  the  cursed  folly  he  committed 
yesterday  in  forsaking  the  Duke  of  Leinster.  .  .  . 
Western  is  first  rate  in  his  decision  that  it  won''t  do, 
and  that  Grey  never  can  shew  his  face  as  a  public  man 
again.  .  .  ." 

"  House  of  Lords,  12  o'clock. 

".  .  .  Denman  is  speaking  as  well  as  possible,  the' 
I  am  all  against  his  introducing  jokes,  which  he  has 
been  doing  somewhat  too  much.  I  was  much  aston- 
ished at  their  lordships  being  so  much  and  so  univer- 
sally tickled  as  they  were  by  some  of  his  stories. 
Denman,  holding  the  bill  in  his  hand,  said  : — *  Levity 
of  manner  is  one  of  its  charges.  Why  this  charge 
applies  to  all  Royal  people :  they  are  all  good- 
tempered  and  playful.'  Then  he  gave  a  conversation 
which  took  place  between  his  present  Majesty  and 
Sam  Spring,  the  waiter  at  the  Cocoa  Tree,  where 
Sam  cracked  his  jokes  and  was  very  familiar  with 
the  Prince ;  upon  which  the  latter  said  : — *  This  is 
all  very  well  between  you  and  me,  Sam,  but  beware 
of  being  equally  familiar  with  Norfolk  and  Abercorn.' 
All  the  Lords  recognised  the  story  and  snorted  out 
hugely — Bishops  and  all. 

"  I  thought  the  Lords  rose  to  receive  the  Queen 
5  with  a  better  grace  to-day  than  yesterday.  Everything 
I  respecting  her  coming  to  the  House  is  now  as  perfect 
\    as   possible.     She   has   a  most  superb  and   beautiful 

*  The  barrier  described  on  p.  306. 


i8i9-20.]  THE    CASE    FOR  THE    CROWN.  311 

coach  with  six  horses — the  coachman  driving  in  a  cap, 
like  the  old  king's  coachman  ;  and  a  good  coach  of  her 
own  behind  for  Craven  and  Cell.  .  .  ." 

"  Brooks's,  5  o'clock. 

".  .  .  Nothing  can  be  more  triumphant  for  the  Queen 
than  this  day  altogether.  .  .  .  The  truth  is  the  Law 
Officers  of  the  Crown  are  damnably  overweighted  by 
Brougham  and  Denman.  .  .  ." 

"  House  of  Lords,  19th  August. 

".  .  .  The  Queen  is  not  here  to-day ;  and  she  does 
not  mean  to  come,  I  believe,  till  Tuesday.  I  am  rather 
sorry  for  this,  because  there  was  so  very  great,  and 
so  well-dressed,  a  population  in  the  street  to  see  her 
to-day.  Where  the  devil  they  all  come  from,  1  can't 
possibly  imagine,  but  I  think  the  country  about  Lon- 
don must  furnish  a  great  part.  It  is  prodigiously 
encreased  since  the  first  day.  .  .  .  Now  Mr.  Attorney 
General  has  at  last  begun  by  opening  his  case  against 
the  Queen,  and  I  have  heard  just  one  hour  of  him,  and 
then  left  it.  Now  her  danger  begins,  and  I  am  quite 
unable  to  conjecture  the  degree  of  damage  she  will 
sustain  from  the  publication  of  this  opening,  I  say 
degree,  because  of  course  it  is  quite  impossible  that  a 
very  great  effect  should  not  be  produced  upon  the 
better  orders  of  people  by  the  production  of  this 
cursed,  disgusting  narrative,  however  overstated  it 
may  eventually  prove  to  be,  and  however  short  (if  all 
strictly  true)  it  may  fall  of  the  actual  crime  charged  by 
the  Bill." 

"  Brooks's,  22nd  Aug.,  I  past  4. 
".  .  .  Upon  the  whole,  I  hope  things  are  looking 
better  for  us  to-day.  The  people  in  the  streets  were 
numerous,  but  not  so  much  so  as  formerly,  nor  was 
their  quality  so  good.  Yesterday's  evidence  had  cer- 
tainly shook  her  friends — always  excepting  Lady 
Gwydyr  *  and  her  family  at  their  house  at  Whitehall. 
I  stood  on  Lord  Melbourne's  steps  to  see  the  Queen 
pass,  and  the  Down  Gwydyr  {alias  Ercsby;  with  all 

*  The  Dowager  Lady  Gwydyr  was  Lady  Willoughby  d'Eresby  and 
joint  Great  Chamberlain  in  her  own  right. 


31-  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIH. 

her  family  black  as  sloes,  with  weepers,  windows 
open,  &c.,  all  bowed  at  once  again  and  again,  with  an 
awe  and  devotion  as  if  they  had  been  good  Catholicks 
and  the  Queen  the  Virgin  Mar}-.  .  .  ." 


"  House  of  Lords,  25th  Aug.,  i  o'clock. 

"  Our  matters,  so  far  in  the  day,  stand  much  better 
than  they  did  at  the  close  of  yesterday.  The  two 
captains,  Pechell  and  Briggs,  have  been  called,  and  so 
far  from  proving  anything  against  the  Queen,  they 
have  distinctly  sworn  there  was  not  the  slightest 
impropriety  in  the  conduct  of  the  Queen  during  the 
period  she  was  on  board  their  ships.  The  fact  of 
Bergami  having  come  the  first  time  as  servant,  and 
afterwards  sitting  at  table  on  board  one  of  these  ships, 
was  of  course  proved ;  but  everybody  knew  it  before, 
and  it  does  not  signify  a  damn.  .  .  . 

"The  discovery  of  this  day,  viz.  that  Capts.  Briggs 
and  Pechell  were  to  be  the  only  English  witnesses 
produced  against  the  Queen,  was  most  agreeable  and 
unexpected  to  me,  because  of  a  conversation  which 
had  passed  between  the  Duke  of  Wellington  and 
myself  on  the  subject.  The  night  after  I  made  my 
speech  in  the  House  of  Commons  in  support  of  Genl. 
P^rguson's  motion  for  the  production  of  the  Milan 
commission,  I  saw  the  Duke  at  the  Argyle  Rooms, 
who,  with  his  usual  frankness,  came  up  to  me  and 
said : — '  Well,  Creevey ;  so  you  gave  us  a  blast  last 
night.  Have  you  seen  Leach  since?'  Then  we 
talked  about  the  approaching  trial  with  the  most 
perfect  freedom,  and  upon  my  saying  their  foreign 
evidence  would  find  very  few  believers  in  this 
country,  he  said  : — *  Ho  !  but  we  have  a  great  many 
English  witnesses — officers  ; '  and  this,  I  confess,  was 
the  thing  that  always  frightened  me  the  most.  ...  I 
sat  between  Grey  and  Sir  Robert  Wilson*  at  Sefton's 

*  General  Sir  Robert  Thomas  Wilson  [i 777-1 849],  commonly 
known  as  "  Jaffa  Wilson,"  owing  to  the  charges  made  against  Napoleon 
of  cruelty  to  his  prisoners  at  Jaffa  in  Wilson's  History  of  the  British 
Expeditioft  to  Egypt.  Having  warmly  espoused  the  cause  of  Queen 
Caroline,  he  was  present  at  the  riot  in  Hyde  Park  on  the  occasion  of 
Her  Majesty's  funeral.     Although  he  was  endeavouring  to  prevent  a 


i8i9-2o.]  UNFAVOURABLE    EVIDENCE.  313 

yesterday,  and  two  greater  fools  I  never  saw  in  all 
my  life.  The  former,  in  consequence  of  the  day's 
evidence  being  unfavourable  to  the  Queen,  was  a 
rigid  lover  of  justice  :  he  did  not  care  a  damn  about 
the  cause  :  he  was  come  up  to  do  his  duty,  and  should 
act  accordingl}'.  Wilson,  on  the  other  hand,  was 
perfectly  certain  the  Bill  would  never  pass  the  House 
of  Lords,  and  that,  if  it  did,  it  must  take  at  least  tzvo 
years  in  the  Commons.  Tierney  was  more  guarded 
in  his  opinion.  He  said  he  had  got  something  in 
his  head  somehow  or  other  that  the  Bill  would 
never  come  to  us  in  the  House  of  Commons.  So 
much  for  the  chiefs  in  the  Whig  camp,*  Thanet 
and  I  agreed  afterwards  as  to  their  insanity.  I  dine 
with  him  and  Cowper  at  Brooks's  to-day,  and  to- 
morrow at  the  house  of  the  latter  to  meet  the  Derbys, 
&c.  Western  is  gone  to  Fornham  [the  Duke  of 
Norfolk's]  to-day.  The  Duke  asked  me  to  come  with 
him." 

"  Brooks's,  2  o'clock,  26th  August. 

"  I  am  just  returned  from  the  Lords,  and  their 
lordships  have  hampered  themselves  as  with  one  of 
their  own  absurdities,  that  they  have  adjourned  till 
Monday  to  consider  how  they  are  to  get  out  of  it.  .  .  . 
I  am  at  this  moment  the  centre  of  at  least  a  dozen 
lords.  You  may  suppose  it  is  a  scrape  when  Wicked- 
shifts  Grey  is  at  this  moment  grinning  from  ear  to 
ear,  and  telling  me  he  sees  no  way  out  of  it  but  by 
the  Lords  adjourning  the  second  reading  of  the  bill 
for  six  months.  Old  Fitzwilliam  tells  me  he  thinks 
little  of  the  chambermaid's  evidence ;  and,  as  to  that, 
both  Grey  and  King  think  much  less  of  it  than  I  do. 
Certain  it  is  that  Mr.  Attorney's  perfect  incompetence 
to  manage  a  case  like  this,  added  to  the  villainy  of 
the  Court,  gives  considerable — indeed  a  very  great — 
advantage  to  the  case  of  this  eternal  fool,  to  call  her 
[the  Queen]  by  no  worse  a  name.  .  .  ." 

collision  between  the  Horse  Guards  and  the  mob,  and  despite  a  long 
record  of  gallant  service  in  the  field,  Wilson  was  dismissed  the  army 
in  1821,  but  was  reinstated  on  the  accession  of  William  IV. 

*  Nevertheless  the  chiefs  were  right — Grey  in  his  resolution  to  give 
his  verdict  according  to  the  evidence,  Tierney  in  predicting  that  the 
Bill  would  never  reach  the  Common;;. 


314  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIII. 

"  House  of  Lords,  3  o'clock,  28th  August. 

"...  I  met  Lady  Charlotte  Greville  in  the  street 
yesterday,  and  walked  a  little  with  her,  when  I  found 
her///rv  against  Brougham  to  be  perfectly  unbounded. 
I  told  her  her  state  of  mind  was  everything  I  could 
wish,  and  so  I  left  her.  There  is  a  report  about,  said 
to  rest  on  good  authority,  that  the  King  sent  for  the 
Duke  of  York  yesterday,  and  that  he  wants  to  go  to 
Hanover,*  leaving  the  Duke  Regent 

"  House  of  Lords,  29th  August,  5  o'clock. 
"  Here's  a  capital  scene  such  as  I  never  saw  before. 
Always  keep  in  mind  the  point  in  discussion — viz. 
whether  Brougham  should  have  a  little  cross-exami- 
nation now,  and  an  unlimited  one  hereafter.  This 
was  conceded  to  him  early  on  Saturday — refused 
yesterday,  and  to-day  Harrowby  begins  by  moving 
that,  under  the  peculiar  circumstances,  Brougham 
shall  have  an  unlimited  cross-examination  both  now 
and  hereafter.  This  motion  was  opposed  by  Lord 
Eldon,  and  a  division  has  just  taken  place,  when 
Harrowby's  motion  was  carried  by  121  to  106.  The 
three  law  lords — Eldon,  Redesdale,  and  Manners — the 
two  Royal  Dukes — York  and  Clarence — and  all  the 
King's  friends  were  in  the  minority,  and  Sidmouth 
was  the  only  other  member  of  the  Cabinet  besides 
Eldon  who  voted  against  Harrowby's  motion.  Our 
people  of  course  voted  with  Harrowby.  Was  there 
ever  such  a  state  of  things  ? .  .  ." 

"  House  of  Lords,j2  o'clock,  ist  Sept.,  1S20.  ' 
The  chienne  Demont  f  turns  out  everything  one 
could  wish  on  her  cross-examination.  Her  letters 
have  been  produced  written  to  her  sister  living  still 
in  the  Queen's  service.  .  .  .  They  contain  every  kind 
of  panegyric  upon  the  Queen,  and  she  often  writes  of 
a  journal  or  diary  she  has  kept  of  everything  that  has 
occurred  during  the  whole  of  her  service  and  travels 

*  George  IV.  was  hereditary  sovereign  of  Hanover  as  well  as  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 

t  Former  fenune-de-chambrc  to  the  Princess  of  Wales  (Queen 
Caroline),  an  important  witness  for  the  prosecution. 


i8i9-20.]  LOUISE    DEMONT.  315 

with  the  Queen ;  the  object  of  such  journal  being,  as 
she  says,  to  do  the  Queen  justice,  and  to  show  how 
she  was  received,  applauded,  cherished,  wherever  she 
went.  At  length  she  writes— 'Judge  of  my  astonish- 
ment at  an  event  that  happened  to  me  the  other  day. 
A  person  called  upon  me  at  Lausanne,  and  said  he 
wished  to  speak  to  me  alone.  I  brought  him  up  into 
my  chamber :  he  gave  me  a  letter :  I  broke  the  seal. 
It  was  a  request  that  I  would  come  immediately  to 
England  under  the  pretext  of  being  a  governess  :  that 
I  should  have  the  first  protection  :  that  it  would  make 
my  fortune.  True  it  is,  there  was  no  signature  to  the 
letter,  but  as  a  proof  of  its  validity  I  had  an  imme- 
diate credit  given  me  on  a  banker.'  The  Attorney- 
General  here  objected  to  this  evidence.  .  .  ." 

"  h  past  3. 

"  The  House  put  a  question  to  the  Judges  whether 
these  letters  could  be  read  in  evidence,  and  they 
decided  they  could  not  unless  Demont  admitted  them 
to  be  her  handwriting.  They  have  just  been  put 
into  her  hands,  and  she  has  admitted  them  all  to  be 
hers.  .  .  ." 

"  5  o'clock. 

"Adjourned  ...  a  most  infernally  damaging  day 
for  the  prosecution.  .  .  ." 

"  House  of  Lords,  2  o'clock,  2nd  Sept. 

"The  chicnnc  Demont  is  still  under  her  cross- 
examination,  and  is,  if  possible,  fifty  times  nearer  the 
devil  to-day  than  she  was  yesterday.  ...  I  have  told 
you,  I  believe,  that  the  Bishops  won't  support  the 
Divorce  part  of  the  Bill,  and  that  in  consequence  it  is 
to  be  withdrawn ;  so  that  the  title  of  the  Bill  ought 

to  be — *  A  Bill  to  declare  the  Queen  a  w ,  and  to 

settle  her  upon  the  King  for  life,  because  from  his 
own  conduct  he  is  not  entitled  to  a  divorce.' " 

'•  House  of  Lords,  Sept.  4,  3  o'clock. 
"  Here's  a  fellow  examining  who  says  he  came  on 
Saturday  night  with  eleven  others,  so  it  can't  close  so 
soon  as  I  had  thought.     We  are  still  in  the  dark  as 


3l6  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIII. 

to  the  Lugano  devil  being  included  in  this  arrival. 
He  is  the  fellow  Brougham  has  always  been  the  most 
afraid  of:  however,  he  has  just  told  me  there  are  such 
proofs  of  the  high  price  his  evidence  is  to  cost,  that 
he  thinks  he  shall  do  for  him.  .  .  ." 

"  Brooks's,  5  o'clock. 

"  Eleven  witnesses    examined  to-day :    much  dirt 
and  some  damage  certainly'-," 

"  House  of  Lords,  Sept.  6. 
"...  Do  you  know  this  bill  will  never  pass!  My 
belief  is  it  will  be  abandoned  on  the  adjournment. 
The  entire  middle  order  of  people  are  against  it,  and 
are  daily  becoming  more  critical  on  the  King  and  the 
Lords  for  carrying  on  this  prosecution." 

"  h  past  two. 
"  By  far  the  most  infamous  act  that  even  this  jury 
of  the  Lords  ever  committed  has  just  been  done  by 
them.  The  Judges,  after  three  hours'  consultation, 
decided  that  a  particular  question,  proposed  by 
Brougham,  could  not  be  put.  Lord  Buckingham  has 
just  put  the  same  question  thinking  it  would  damage 
the  Queen.  No  one  objected.  The  answer  was 
given,  and  compleatly  the  reverse  of  what  Lord  B. 
expected.  Then  Brougham  rose  and  with  great 
gravity  said: — 'My  lords,  I  humbly  request  your 
lordships  to  accept  my  thanks  for  having  permitted 
a  member  of  your  own  House  to  put  a  question 
which,  only  two  hours  ago,  after  great  deliberation 
and  consultation  with  the  Judges,  you  refused  to 
me.'  Not  a  word  or  a  sound  was  heard  in  answer 
to  this  knock-down  blow  from  Bruffam.  He  told 
me  afterwards  that  it  was  by  his  own  address  and 
personal  application  to  Lord  Buckingham  that  the 
latter  was  induced  to  put  the  question.  .  .  ." 

"  \  past  4. 
"  The  evidence   is   closed — that  is,  all   that   is  in 
England.     Mr.  Attorney  has  been  making   his  appli- 
cation for  an  adjournment  of  a  few  da^^s  to  give  time 
for   the    Lugano  witnesses    to   arrive.       Brougham's 


I8I9-20.]     THE   SOLICITOR-GENERAL   SUMS    UP.  2>17 

objection  to  this  has  been  the  feeblest  effort  he  has  yet 
made,  and  Mr.  Attorney  is  now  replying.  I  suppose 
it  will  be  granted,  and  this  will  fill  up  the  measure 
of  their  lordships'  iniquit3\ 

"  P.S. — Erskine  has  made' the  most  beautiful  speech 
possible :  Grey  an  excellent  one  :  Eldon  and  Liver- 
pool are  shook,  and  I  think  the  application  will  be 
refused." 

"  Brooks's,  Sept.  6,  12  o'clock  at  night. 

"  I  have  been  dining  to-day  at  Lord  Sefton's  with 
the  Duke  of  Bedford,  Lords  Grey,  Thanet,  Cowper 
and  Foley,  Brougham,  &c.  Grey  was  a  decided 
lunatic  at  dinner,  and  so  Brougham  and  I  settled 
him  in  a  walk  we  had  together.  Brougham  is  quite 
aware  of  the  prodigious  part  he  has  to  play  upon 
this  approaching  speech  of  his,  and  I  have  been  try- 
ing all  I  can  to  make  him  connect  himself  with  public 
opinion  as  far  as  he  can  consistently  with  propriety 
and  the  dignity  of  his  situation. 

"  House  of  Lords,  12  o'clock,  7th  Sept. 

"The  first  thing  done  to-day  was  Mr.  Attorney 
coming  forward  and  stating  that  within  the  preced- 
ing half  hour  he  had  received  letters  from  abroad, 
stating  that  the  journey  of  the  Lugano  witnesses 
was  unavoidably  delayed,  and  that  under  such  cir- 
cumstances he  should  not  persist  in  asking  for  time. 
So,  after  this  infernal  lie,  he  said  his  case  was  closed. 
.  .  .  Mr.  Solicitor  is  now  summing  up. 

"  Here's  a  breeze!  The  Solicitor  having  finished, 
Lauderdale  moved  that  the  Queen's  counsel  be  asked 
if  they  were  ready  to  go  on,  upon  which  Lord  Lons- 
dale begged  to  state  that,  before  such  question  was 
put,  it  would  be  a  great  satisfaction  to  him  and  others 
to  learn  that  the  divorce  part  of  the  Bill  was  to  be 
given  up  ;  upon  which  Lord  Liverpool  said  if  it  was 
the  wish  of  the  religious  part  of  the  House  and  of  the 
community  that  this  clause  should  be  withdrawn,  his 
Majesty  had  no  personal  wish  in  having  it  made  part 
of  the  bill.  .  .  .  Well!  Grey  made  a  speech  for  the 
divorce  part  remaining!  and  Donoughmorc  is  now 
asserting  with  great  fury  that  Liverpool  has  given 
the  Kind's  consent  without  his  leave." 


3l8  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIII. 

"  8th  Sept. 

",  .  .  It  is  said  Ministers  are  quite  determined  not 
to  let  Brougham  open  his  case  now.  For  the  first 
time,  he  buUied  the  Lords  a  little  too  much  yester- 
day ;  so  much  so,  that  he  has  turned  Carnarvon  quite 
violently  against  him  ;  which  is  a  very  great  pit}', 
because  he  is  so  eminently  useful. 

"  I  had  a  most  agreeable  day  yesterday  at 
Cowper's,  the  company  being  the  Derbys,  Jerseys, 
Lansdownes,  Grey,  Thanet  and  Erskine.  It  was  my 
good  fortune  to  sit  next  the  latter,  and  he  was  as 
lively  and  as  much  the  soul  of  the  company  at  72  as 
he  could  have  been  at  32.  .  ,  .  You  know  the  Queen 
went  down  the  river  yesterday.  1  saw  her  pass  the 
H.  of  Commons  on  the  deck  of  her  state  barge ;  the 
river  and  the  shores  of  it  were  then  beginning  to  fill. 
Erskine,  who  was  afterwards  at  Blackfriars  Bridge, 
said  he  was  sure  there  were  200,000  people  collected 
to  see  her.  .  .  .  There  was  not  a  single  vessel  in  the 
river  that  did  not  hoist  their  colours  and  man  their 
yards  for  her,  and  it  is  with  the  greatest  difficulty 
that  the  watermen  on  the  Thames,  who  are  all  her 
partisans,  are  kept  from  destr03ang  the  hulk  which 
lies  off  the  H.  of  Commons  to  protect  the  witnesses 
in  Cotton  Garden.  ...  I  dine  to-day  at  Sefton's  :  only 
Brougham  and  myself.  .  .  ." 

"  House  of  Lords,  8th  Sept.,  i  0  clock. 

".  .  .  Liverpool  is  now  speaking  against  Grey, 
and  when  the  debate  is  to  end  I  know  not,  but 
Brougham  has  just  called  me  out  to  consult  with  me. 
The  Queen,  backed  by  Wood,  is  all  for  going  on  de 
suite,  and,  as  Brougham  thinks,  the  decided  plan  is 
to  fling  her  counsel  overboard.  In  this  situation  of 
peril  for  the  idiot.  Brougham  thinks  of  asking  only 
till  Monday  fortnight  to  be  ready  to  go  on  with  his 
defence.  .  .  ." 

"  Brooks's,  Sept.  9th. 

"The  House  of  Lords  is  adjourned  to  Tuesday 
three  weeks,  the  3rd  of  October.  You  can  form  no 
conception  of  the  rage  of  the  Lords  at  Brougham 
fixing    this   time  :    it   interferes    with    everything  — 


i8ig-2o.]    THE   DIVORCE   CLAUSE   ABANDONED.  319 

pheasant  shooting,  Newmarket,  Sec,  &c.  .  .  .  Grey  is 
just  set  out  for  Howick,  the  most  furious  of  the  set, 
.  .  .  Brougham's  chaise  is  now  at  the  door  to  carry 
him  home  to  Brougham  Castle.  He  has  performed 
miracles,  and  the  reasons  he  has  just  been  giving  me 
for  fixing  the  time  he  has  done,  shew  his  understand- 
ing (if  one  doubted  it)  to  be  of  the  very  first  order. 
The  Queen  is  delighted  at  their  going  on  so  soon  : 
she  clapped  her  hands  with  delight  when  he  com- 
municated it  to  her  last  night.  .  .  ." 


Mr.  Western,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Buxton,  loth  Sept. 

".  .  .  The  abandonment  of  the  divorce  clause 
forms  the  ultimate  climax  of  baseness,  cowardice, 
folly,  &c.  It  is  a  Bill  of  Pains  and  Penalties  upon  the 
King,  to  expose  him  to  the  most  dire  disgrace  that 
ever  was  inflicted  upon  mortal  man — to  enact  that, 
whereas  his  wife  is  the  most  abandoned  of  women,  he 
.is  a  fit  associate  for  her!  Oh,  there  never  was  the 
like!!!  .  .  ." 


Henry  Brougham,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Brougham,  14  Sept.,  1S20. 

"Dear  C, 

".  .  .  Either  you  or  Bennet  should  by  all 
means  ask  a  question  respecting  the  two  late  outrages 
in  Scotland  committed  by  Sir  Alexr.  Gordon  and  his 
son  Mr.  James  Gordon.  These  two  worthies  being 
at  Crossmichael  church  one  Sunday,  and  observing 
the  parson,  Mr.  Jeffrey,  pray  for  the  Queen,  they 
caused  a  vestry  (kirk  session)  to  be  held  instanter; 
and,  there  being  no  further  notice,  they  two  and  the 
parson  were  the  only  members  present ;  whereupon, 
by  a  majority  of  2  to  i,  they  recorded  a  censure  on 
him  and  an  order  against  ever  again  praying  for  the 
Queen  by  name  !  The  Presbytery,  being  the  ordinary 
ecclesl.  jurisdn.,  immediately  took  it  up,  revised  the 
whole  proceeding,  and  have  ordered  the  parties  to 
appear    before    them — I    suppose    to    be    censured. 


320  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIII. 

Again :  the  son,  James  Gordon,  being  Col.  of  a 
Yeomanry  corps  lately  on  duty,  the  chaplain,  Mr. 
Gillespie  (whom  I  have  known  for  many  years,  and 
who  is  a  man  of  admirable  character  and  perfect 
loyalty),  preached  a  very  loyal  discourse,  but  prayed 
for  the  Q.  The  Col.  put  him  under  arrest !  The 
ecclesl.  authorities  have  taken  this  matter  up,  and  I 
suppose  (indeed  it  is  quite  clear)  must  take  Gillespie's 
part  strongly.  But  why  do  I  specify  these  two 
matters  ?  Because  y<7s.  Gordon  is  a  fudge  in  Scotland, 
and  an  ecclesiastical  one :  viz.  one  of  the  Commis- 
saries who  are  the  3  Judges  of  the  supreme  Con- 
sistorial  Court  at  Edinr.  .  .  .  You  are  aware  that  the 
Scotch  Church  acknowledge  no  head  but  J.  Christ — 
utterly  denies  the  King's  or  Parlt.'s  right  to  interfere 
in  any  respect,  and  rejects  with  the  utmost  indigna- 
tion all  attempts  (which,  since  the  aboln.  of  Epis- 
copacy, indeed,  have  never  been  made)  to  dictate,  or 
even  hint  at,  any  form  of  prayers,  each  parson  being 
left  wholly  to  himself,  except  as  far  as  the  Church 
Courts  (viz.  Presbytery,  Synod  and  General  As- 
sembly) may  regulate  their  doctrine  and  discipline. 
Now  a  question  ought  to  be  asked  on  this  Gordon's 
conduct.  .  .  ." 


Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Brooks's,  13  Sept. 

".  .  .  Do  3'ou  know  they  say  the  King  is  intent 
upon  turning  out  Lord  Hertford  to  make  room  for 
Conyngham  as  Lord  Chamberlain,  and  Lord  Chol- 
mondeley  to  make  way  for  Lord  Roden.  Was  there 
ever  such  insanity  at  such  a  time?  It  is  said  the 
Ministers  have  exacted  a  promise  from  him  not  to 
make  the  first  change,  at  least  pending  the  trial.  In 
writing  the  last  sentence,  1  heard  a  noise  of  hurraing 
and  shouting  in  the  street ;  so  I  ran  out  to  see.  It 
was,  I  may  say,  the  Navy  of  England  marching  to 
Brandenburgh  House  with  an  address  to  the  Queen. 
1  have  seen  nothing  like  this  before — nothing  ap- 
proaching to  it.  There  were  thousands  of  seamen, 
all  well  dressed,  all  sober— the  best-looking,  the  finest 
men  you  could  imagine.     Every  man  had  a  new  white 


iSi9-2o.]     BROUGHAM    OPENS   THE   DEFENCE.  32I 

silk  or  satin  cockade  in  his  hat.  They  had  a  hundred 
colours,  at  least,  or  pieces  of  silk,  with  sentiments 
upon  them,  such  as  'Protection  to  the  Innocent,'  &c. 
M'Donald  asked  one  of  them  how  many  there  were, 
to  which  he  answered  very  civilly — '  I  don't  know, 
■exactl}^,  sir,  but  we  are  many  thousands,  and  should 
have  been  many  more,  but  we  would  not  let  any  man 
above  forty  come,  because  we  have  so  far  to  walk.' 
Remember  what  I  say — this  procession  decides  the 
late  of  the  Queen.  When  the  seamen  take  a  part,  the 
soldiers  can't  fail  to  be  shaken." 


"  House  of  Lords,  October  3rd,  i  o'clock. 

".  .  .  Brougham  has  been  at  it  nearly  two  hours 
and  a  half,  and  may  continue  an  hour  or  two  more, 
for  aught  I  know ;  but  it  is  infinitely  too  hot  to  stay 
in  the  crowd,  so  I  have  just  escaped.  ...  I  think  I 
may  sa^^  he  was  as  good  as  1  expected.  .  .  ." 

"  4  o'clock. 

"He  has  been  at  it  again  two  hours,  and  will 
evidently  be  so  till  five — criticism  in  detail  upon  the 
evidence  for  the  prosecution  —  damned  dull  and 
damned  hot,  so  I  have  been  walking  about  amongst 
my  friends  on  Westminster  Bridge." 


"  House  of  Lords,  Oct.  4,  I  past  I. 

"Brougham  has  just  finished  his  opening.  ...  I 
never  heard  him  anything  like  the  perfection  he  has 
displayed  in  all  ways,  ...  In  short,  if  he  can  prove 
what  he  has  stated  in  his  speech,  1  for  one  believe  she 
is  innocent,  and  the  whole  case  a  conspiracy.  .  .  .  He 
concluded  with  a  most  magnificent  address  to  the 
Lords — an  exhortation  to  them  to  save  themselves — 
the  Church — the  Crown— the  Country,  by  their 
decision  in  favour  of  the  Queen.  This  last  appeal 
was  made  with  great  passion,  but  without  a  particle 
of  rant.  ...  I  consider  myself  infinitel}'  overpaid  by 
these  two  hours  and  a  half  of  Brougham,  for  all  the 
time  and  money  it  has  cost  me  to  be  here,  and  almost 
for  my  absence  from  all  of  you.  .  .  ." 

Y 


THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Cil.  XIII. 


"  Oct.  5th. 

"...  I  had  a  very  agreeable  daj'-  at  Powell's  with 
the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  who  called  for  me  here,  and  we 
walked  there  together.  We  went  to  Brooks's  at 
night,  where,  as  you  may  suppose,  the  nionde  talked 
of  nothing  but  Brougham  and  his  fame,  and  the 
comers-in  from  White's  said  the  same  feeling  was 
equally  strong  there.  .  .  .  [The  speech]  not  only  as- 
tonished but  has  shaken  the  aristocracy,  though  'Lord 
Granville  did  tell  me  at  parting  this  morning  not  to 
be  too  confident  of  that,  for  that  the  H.  of  Lords  was 
by  far  the  stupidest  and  most  obstinate  collection  of 
men  that  could  be  selected  from  all  England.  This,  I 
think,  from  a  peer  himself,  and  old  virtuoso  Stafford's 
brother,  was  damned  fair.  .  .  .  General  St.  Leger  was 
called,  and  was  only  useful  as  a  very  ornamental 
witness.  .  .  .  Then  came  Lord  Guilford,  who  is  the 
most  ramshackle  fellow  you  ever  saw.  He  is  a  kind  of 
non  mi  ricordo  likewise.*  He  seems,  however,  to  have 
been  a  pretty  frequent  guest  at  her  Majesty's  table 
.  .  .  has  dined  more  than  once  with  Bergami  at  the 
Queen's  table  and  that  he  never  saw  the  slightest 
impropriety.  .  .  .  But  the  witness  of  all  witnesses  has 
just  closed  her  examination  in  chief — Lady  Charlotte 
Lindsay.  In  your  life  you  never  heard  such  testimony 
as  hers  in  favour  of  the  Queen — the  talent,  the  per- 
spicuity, the  honesty  of  it.  .  .  ."  , 


*''  House  of  Lords,  Oct.  6th. 

"  Wonders  will  never  cease.  Upon  my  soul !  this 
Queen  must  be  innocent  after  all.  Lady  Charlotte 
went  on  in  her  cross-examination,  and  could  never  be 
touched ;  tho'  she  was  treated  most  infamously — so 
much  so  as  to  make  her  burst  out  a  crying.  There 
was  a  ticklish  point  about  a  letter  from  her  brother, 
advising  her  to  give  up  her  place  under  the  Queen, 
which  [letter]  she  said  she  could  not  find.     The  fact 

*  Referring  to  the  evidence  of  some  of  the  Italian  witnesses  for  the 
prosecution,  who  in  cross-examination  so  often  answered,  Non  mi 
ricordo — "  I  don't  remember" — that  it  passed  into  a  saying. 


iSi9-2o.]  MINISTERS   LOSE   GROUND.  3-3 

is,  her  husband,  Lindsay,  who  is  in  the  greatest 
distress,  has  absolutely  sold  her  correspondence  on 
this  subject  to  the  Treasury.*  She  told  this  to 
Brougham  himself  under  the  most  solemn  injunction 
of  secrecy,  and  he  has  this  instant  told  it  to  me. 
When,  therefore.  Brougham  mentioned  loudly  the 
name  of  Maule  as  a  person  to  be  called  as  a  witness, 
the  Chancellor  decided  the  letter  should  not  be  pro- 
duced— this  Maule  being  the  Solicitor  to  the  Treasury, 
w'ho  bought  the  correspondence  of  Lindsay.  Was 
there  ever  villainy  equal  to  this  ?  Eldon  and  Liv^er- 
pool  had  some  sharp  words  on  this  occasion  in  the 
House.  Thank  God,  the  villains  get  out  of  temper 
with  each  other !  .  .  .  Gell,  cross-examined  and  ex- 
amined by  the  Lords,  left  everything  still  more 
triumphant  for  the  Queen ;  so  much  so  that  Pelham 
and  a  few  other  bishops  are  gone  home  to  cut  their 
throats.  Lord  Enniskillen  has  just  said  in  my  hear- 
ing that  the  Ministers  ought  to  be  damned  for  coming- 
out  with  such  a  case.  .  .  ." 

"  House  of  Lords,  9th  Oct.,  10  o'clock. 

".  .  .  The  town  is  literally  drunk  with  joy  at  this 
unparalleled  triumph  of  the  Queen.  There  is  no 
doubt  now  in  any  man's  mind,  except  Lauderdale's, 
that  the  whole  thing  has  been  a  conspiracy  for  money. 
The  Ministers  were  down  at  Windsor  yesterday,, 
taking  with  them  the  oitld  cnstouicr  Lonsdale,  and  a 
new  one  in  the  Duke  of  Rutland.  .  .  ." 

"  4  o'clock. 

"Captn.  Flynn  of  the  polacrc  is  just  call'd.  He  is 
mad,  and  in  trying  to  do  too  much  has,  for  the 
present,  done  harm ;  but  it  will  be  all  set  right 
to-morrow." 

"  House  of  Lords,  2  o'clock,  October  lotli. 

"This  cursed  Plynn  is  still  going  on.  He  has 
perjured  himself  three  or  four  times  over,  and  his 
evidence  and  himself  are  both  gone  to  the  devil.  He 
is  evidently  a  crack-brained  sailor.  ...  lie  has  fainted 
away  once,  and  been  obliged  to  be  carried  out." 

*  There  is  no  authority  but  Brougham's  for  this  statement. 


/3^f4.  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIII. 

*'  Brooks's,  5  o'clock. 

".  .  .  Lady  Jersey  stopt  me  in  the  street  to 
reproach  me  for  never  coming  to  her,  so  I  went  last 
night  and  found  all  the  political  grandees  there. 
Brougham,  of  course,  was  one,  and  he  and  I  came 
away  together.  .  .  ." 

"Oct.  I2th,  one  o'clock. 

"  By  Jove,  my  dear,  we  are  coming  to  critical 
times,  such  as  no  man  can  tell  the  consequences  of 
It  is  quite  understood  that  the  Lords — at  the  suit  of 
the  Ministers — are  resolved  to  pass  this  Bill,  upon 
the  sole  point  of  the  Queen  being  admitted  to  have 
slept  under  the  tent  on  board  the  polacre,  while 
Bergami  slept  there  likewise,  ...  I  predict,  with  the 
most  perfect  confidence,  that  commotion  and  blood- 
shed must  follow  this  enormous  act  of  injustice, 
should  it  finally  be  committed  ;  but  (tho'  I  stand  alone 
in  this  opinion)  I  will  not  and  do  not  believe  the 
Bill  will  pass  the  Lords.  I  have  this  instant  seen 
Brougham  ;  ...  he  says  he  means  to  call  the  Duchess 
of  Beaufort,  Ladies  Harrowby,  Bathurst,  their  hus- 
bands, &c.,  to  prove  their  intimacy  with  the  Queen 
//'//  the  Regency.  He  means,  too,  that  the  Queen  shall 
bring  down  a  statement  of  all  her  sufferings,  and  of 
everything  relating  to  the  Ro3''al  family,  from  her 
arrival  in  England.  It  is  now  copying,  and  she  is  to 
come  down  and  deliver  it  to  the  Chancellor  to  be  read 
before  the  Bill  passes.  Brougham  says  everything 
that  has  happened  yet  is  absolutely  nothing  in  effect 
compared  with  what  this  statement  will  do."  * 

"PIousc  of  Lords,  one  o'clock,  13th  October. 
"...  A  question  arose  as  to  a  point  of  evidence, 
and  whether  a  particular  question  might  be  put ;  upon 
which  Carnarvon  fired  such  a  shot  into  the  whole 
■concern,  and  called  the  bill  such  names  as  you  never 
heard  before.  He  made,  in  short,  a  most  capital 
speech,  and  the  thing  exactly  wanted  at  this  period 

*  Subsequent  note  by  Mr.  Creevey. — "  Why  all  or  any  of  these 
threats  were  never  put  into  execution  remains  for  ]\Ir.  Brougham  to 
explain." 


i8i9-2o.]     THE   DUKE   OF   NORFOLK'S    OPINION.  3^5 

of  the  case  ;  but  alas  !  my  lords  Grey  and  Lansdowne 
and  Holland  were  perfectly  mute :  they  dared  not 
criticise  so  roughly  the  measures  of  a  man  whom  they 
hope  so  soon  to  call  their  Master.  ..." 

*'  3  o'clock. 

"Here's  a  breeze  of  the  first  order!  The  last 
witness  having  ended,  Rastelli  was  called  back ;  when 
behold!  it  turned  out  he  had  been  sent  out  of  the 
country,  instead  of  staying  to  be  indicted  for  perjury. 
.  ,  .  Liverpool  admits  it  was  scandalous  to  send  him 
away,  but  that  it  was  unknown  to  the  Government. 
Holland  and  Lansdowne  have  made  furious  speeches 
upon  the  occasion,  and  Eldon  is  now  speaking.  .  .  . 
I  dine  at  Holland  House  to-day,  .  .  .  We  shall  have  a 
breeze  on  Tuesday  in  the  Commons.  The  base  devils 
who  voted  against  me  the  last  time  are  wanting  me 
to  make  the  same  motion  on  Tuesday,  and  they  will 
support  me.  .  .  ." 


Duke  of  Norfolk  to  Mr.  Crecvey. 

"  Fornham,  13  Octr.,  1820. 

"  Dear  Creevey, 

"Are  you  really  become  the  champion  of  the 
H.  of  Lds.,  and  suppose  there  is  any  atrocity  they  are 
not  ready  to  vote  for?  For  my  own  part,  if  they  do 
pass  this  horrible  Bill,  I  shall  no  longer  consider  it  a 
disgrace  or  a  hardship  to  be  excluded  *  from  a  seat  in 
their  House;  but,  on  the  contrar}',  rejoice  that  I  have 
not  been  implicated  in  so  foul  a  crime.  Is  it  possible 
that  the  slight  evidence  they  have  for  the  tent  scene 
alone  can  establish  their  whole  case?  I  am  anxious 
beyond  measure  to  hear  the  result.  Ly.  Petre  desires 
to  be  kindly  remembered,  and  we  hope  you  will  come 
down.  If  by  any  miracle  the  Bill  should  not  pass, 
what  a  jolification  we  will  have  ! 

"Yours  sincerely, 

"  Norfolk." 

•  As  a  Roman  Catholic. 


326  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Cii.  XIII. 

Mr.  Crccvcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"York  St.,  i6thOct. 

"...  I  dined  3'esterday  at  Ridley's  with  Grey, 
Lansdowne,  Rossl}^,  Sefton,  Brougham  and  various 
others.  Grey  is  looking  horribly  ill.  I  dine  at  Lord 
Derby's  to-day." 

"  House  of  Lords,  2  o'clock. 

"We  are  now  evidently  going  to  have  a  splashing 
debate.  The  same  witness  that  we  had  on  Saturday 
has  deposed  to  another  person  besides  Rastelli,  of  the 
name  of  Raganti,  having  attempted  to  bribe  him  to 
come  and  give  evidence  against  the  Queen.  He  not 
only  offered  him  money  to  come,  but  told  him  the 
partiadar  thing  to  swear  to.  Mr.  Attorney  and  Solicitor 
have  objected  to  this  as  evidence.  Brougham  has 
taken  the  opportunity  of  firing  the  most  capital  broad- 
side into  the  whole  concern  as  a  conspiracy.  ...  A 
damned  flat  debate  going  forward  instead  of  a  splash- 
ing one.  Grey  has  moved  that  the  examination  shall 
proceed,  and  Liverpool  opposed  it,  but  has  let  out 
most  clearly  to  my  mind  that  all  the  Italian  evidence  is 
to  be  flung  overboard.  So  much  for  the  Milan  com- 
mission !  .  .  .  I  find  that  Hutchinson  and  Donough- 
more  were  with  the  King  at  Windsor  to-day,  so 
Liverpool's  speech  is  accounted  for.  It  is  the  first 
breakdown." 


"  House  of  Lords,  17th  Oct.,  i  o'clock. 

"...  I  went  in  from  the  Derbys  last  night  to 
'Sally'  Jersey's,  and  it  was  really  very  agreeable — 
only  'Sally,'  Madame  Lieven,  Lady  Eliz.  Stuart  and 
Madame  Flahault,  with  four  or  five  men  besides 
myself. 

"The  House  of  Commons  meets  at  I  past  three 
to-day,  and  I  must  contrive  somehow  or  other  to  have 
a  brush  there.  .  .  ." 


I8I9-20.]     ADJOURNMENT   OF   THE   COMMONS.  327 


"House  of  Lords,  iSth  Oct.,  i  o'clock. 

"Alas  poor  Cole!*  I  had  always  a  misgiving  she 
would  get  her  death  from  me,  and  last  night  I  fear  the 
presentiment  was  nearly  verified.  It  was  a  great  deal 
too  contemptible  to  hear  the  leader  of  the  Whigs,  with 
this  damnable  Bill  of  Pains  and  Penalties  before  his 
eyes,  meet  a  question  of  adjournment  with  the  ridicu- 
lous amendment  of  a  shorter  adjournment,  and  without 
uttering  a  syllable  upon  the  Bill  itself  or  the  circum- 
stances of  the  time.  I  was  compelled,  therefore,  to 
take  the  field,  as  no  one  else  seemed  inclined  to  shew. 
I  had  not  pronounced  two  sentences  before  one  and 
all  of  his  troops  deserted  him.  The  roar  that  resounded 
from  ever3'  part  of  the  benches  behind  him  (which  were 
very  full)  was  as  extraordinary  to  me  as  it  must  have 
been  agreeable  to  him.  .  .  .  As  to  the  speech  itself, 
being  right  and  absolutely  necessary  to  be  spoken 
were  its  principal  merits.  I  lost  my  head  in  the  middle 
of  it,  and  thought  I  should  have  been  obliged  to  sit 
down,  tho'  I  never  was  so  cheered  during  any  speech 
I  have  made  in  Parliament.  Scfton  overheard  a  con- 
versation between  Cole  and  Duncannon  at  night,  in 
which  the  latter  said — '  Had  you  come  to  town  a  da^^ 
earlier,  an  arrangement  might'have  been  made,  and  all 

*  Note  by  Mr.  Creevey. — "  The  reason  I  call  Tierney  by  the  name 
of 'Cole' is  this.  It  used  to  be  his  constant  practice  in  making  his 
speeches  in  Parliament  to  bear  particular  testimony  to  his  own  cha- 
racter— to  his  being  a  *  plain  man,'  '  an  honest  man,'  or  something-  of 
that  kind.  Having  heard  him  at  this  work  several  times,  it  occurred 
to  me  that  he  had  formed  himself  upon  that  distinguished  model  Mrs. 
Cole,  an  old  lady  in  one  of  Foote's  farces,  who  presided  over  a  female 
establishment  in  Covent  Garden.  Mrs.  Cole  was  always  indulging 
herself  with  flattering  references  to  her  own  character. — '  For  fourteen 
years,'  said  she,  '  have  I  lived  in  the  Garden,  and  no  one  has  said  black 
w-as  the  white  of  my  eye.  For  fourteen  years,  did  I  say  ?  Aye,  for 
si.xteen  years  come  Lammas  Day  have  I  paid  scot  and  lot  in  the  parish 
of  St.  Bride's,  and  no  one  has  said,  "Mrs.  Cole,  why  did  you  so?" 
excepting  twice  I  was  taken  before  Mr.  Justice  Duval,  and  three  times 
to  the  Round  House.'  Brougham  was  for  many  years  quite  enamoured 
of  the  resemblance  of  the  portrait.  He  christened  Abercromby  Young 
Cole,  and  the  whole  shabby  party  *  the  Coles  ; '  but  he  has  become 
much  more  prudent  and  respectful  of  late." 


328  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIIL 

this  scene  avoided.'— 'No,'  said  Cole,  'I  am  confident 
nothing  would  have  stopt  Creevey's  mouth.'  Poor 
thing !  she  has  not  been  here  to-day,  so  I  suppose  she 
has  returned  to  the  sea.  .  .  .  Lord  Donoughmore  had  a 
curious  conversation  with  Sefton  yesterday,  in  which 
the  former  said  the  Ministers  ought  to  be  impeached 
for  having  brought  the  Bill  forward— so  compleatly 
had  they  deceived  him  as  to  their  case.  He  mentioned 
his  visit  to  Windsor  last  Sunday,  and  the  difficulty  he 
and  his  brother  had  in  making  the  King  see  that  the 
Bill  would  never  go  down.  One  of  the  royal  argu- 
ments was : — '  Why,  Lord  Sefton  has  betted  Lord 
Thanet  lo  to  i  that  the  Bill  will  pass  the  Lords,  and 
as  Lord  Sefton  is  known  to  be  so  strongly  against 
the  Bill,  surely  this  is  quite  convincing.'  ...  It  was 
perfectly  true  that  this  bet  had  been  made  by  Sefton 
with  Thanet,  which  of  course  greatly  enhances  the 
merit  of  the  royal/argument.  .  .  ." 

"  House  of  Lords,  Oct.  19. 
".  .  .  Most  important !  McDonald  has  just  returned 
to  me.  He  has  seen  and  talked  with  the  Archbishop 
of  York,  and  it  is  not  only  true  that  Lord  Stafford 
has  become  the  strenuous  opposer  of  the  Bill,  but  he 
has  waited  upon  Lord  Harrowby  to  state  his  con- 
viction that  the  Bill  imtst  be  given  up.  You  know 
McDonald  is  nephew  both  to  the  Archbishop  and 
Lord  Stafford.  ..." 

"  House  of  Lords,  Oct.  20,  i  o'clock. 
".  .  .  Having  said  that  Brougham  had  made  up  his 
mind  not  to  examine  Oldi  and  Mariette,  let  me  say 
why ;  so  that,  if  you  keep  my  account  of  this  trial, 
posterity  may  know  what  the  Queen's  counsel  reall}' 
thought  of  his  client— a  very  rare  thing  to  know  and 
in  this  case,  quite  authentic.  Denman,  Lushington, 
Tindal  and  Wilde  are  all  decidedly  for  calling  both 
Oldi  and  Mariette;  Brougham  has  no  doubt  of  the 
fidelity  of  these  witnesses,  and  of  their  perfect  belief 
in  the  Queen's  innocence;  but  he  is  equally  sure  that 
the  villainy  of  these  judges— the  Lords— would  inflict 
a  persecution  of  two  days'  examination  upon  each  of 
these   witnesses,   and,  from  the   experience   of  their 


iSi9-::o.]  BROUGHAM'S   TACTICS.  329 

monstrous  injustice  in  raising  such  diabolical  infer- 
ences from  admissions  so  natural  and  innocent  as 
those  of  so  capital  a  witness  as  Howman  was,  or 
from  the  rambling  imbecility  of  Flynn,  he  dare  not 
trust  these  foreign  women  to  the  same  ordeal.  All 
this  I  had  from  Brougham  last  night.  He  told  me, 
too,  as  he  has  done  before,  that,  altho'  he  was  in 
possession  of  many  circumstances  unfavorable  in 
appearance  to  the  Queen,  which  were  not  known  to 
me,  he  did  nevertheless  believe  her  to  be  couipleatly 
innocent — in  direct  opposition  to  his  former  sentiments; 
and  that,  furthermore,  should  this  Bill  ever  come  to 
the  House  of  Commons,  he  will  then,  being  no  longer 
in  the  character  of  her  counsel,  take  an  opportunity  of 
declaring,  upon  his  honor  as  a  gentleman,  his  sincere 
belief  in  her  innocence.* 

"  I  had  a  ver}'-  agreeable  day  at  the  Derbys  yester- 
day, as  indeed  it  always  is  there — the  Fortescues, 
Darnleys,  Kings  and  Bennet.  To-day  I  dine  at 
Sefton's  with  Brougham.  .  .  .  Holland  House  is  the 
only  place  I  have  heard  of  as  being  in  a  state  of  rage 
at  my  attack  on  Cole.f  ...  A  division  has  just  taken 
place,  when  Liverpool  and  our  people  beat  the  Chan- 
cellor J  and  his  by  122  to  79;  but  Grey,  with  his  usual 
candour,  has  carried  an  amendment  to  Petty's  §  motion, 
that  in  my  belief,  and  with  such  a  villain  as  Powell  to- 
deal  with,  will  make  the  motion  perfectly  nugatory. 
Grey's  conduct  throughout  this  business  has  been 
most  injurious  to  the  Queen,  her  counsel  and  her 
cause." 

"House  of  Lords,  Oct.  21st,  i  o'clock. 

"  Before  I  begin  Vv'ith  the  trial,  let  me  tell  you  a 
story.  On  my  arrival  here  at  10  this  morning,  I  per- 
ceived a  black  man  of  an  extraordinary  appearance  in 
Tom  Tyrwhitt's  ||  box  at  the  other  end  of  the  Houses 
and  another  black  by  his  side,  both  in  bushy  black 
wigs.     Upon  enquiry,  I  found  it  was  no  less  a  person 

*  He  did  so  on  February  5,  1821. 

t  Mr.  Tierncy. 

X  Lord  Eldon. 

§  Lord  Lansdowne. 

II  Sir  Tliomas  Tyrwhitt,  Black  Rod. 


330  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Cir.  XIII. 

than  the  King  of  New  Zealand  and  his  Grand  Cham- 
berlain ;  and  it  was  presently  reported  that  they  were 
zuhite,  and  not  black  men,  and  that  the  black  shade 
was  merely  the  effect  and  impression  of  tattooing. 
Western  and  I  went  round,  and  got  near  enough  to 
touch  his  Majesty ;  when  I  found  his  royal  face  to  be 
one  of  the  very  finest  specimens  of  carving  I  have 
ever  beheld.  The  Chamberlain's  face  was  fair :  the 
sunflowers  on  it  were  highly  respectable ;  but  the 
King's  nose,  which  surpassed  the  average  size,  was 
one  blaze  of  stars  and  planets.  The  groundwork  of 
their  faces,  of  which  a  mighty  small  portion  remained 
without  ornament,  was  evidently  fair,  but  had  been 
painted  a  deep  orange  colour.  ...  I  just  learn  it  was 
the  Minister  of  the  King,  and  not  his  Chamberlain  ; 
and  also  that  they  are  both  just  entered  at  some 
college  in  Cambridge,  where  1  flatter  myself  these 
dingy  academicians  will  do  honor  both  to  themselves 
and  my  favorite  University.  .  .  . 

^'Sefton  called  yesterday  on  his  uncle  Lord  Har- 
rington, who  is  confined  with  the  gout.  In  the  course 
of  the  visit,  to  Sefton's  surprise  and,  as  you  may 
suppose,  delight,  Lord  Harrington  said—'  1  shall  be 
well  enough  to  go  and  give  my  vote  against  this 
infamous  Bill.'  Upon  Sefton  leading  him  on,  the 
other  said — 'After  the  evidence  of  Lady  Charlotte 
Lindsay,  Mr.  Craven  and  Sir  Wm.  Cell,  no  man  with 
the  pretensions  to  being  a  gentleman  ought  to  have 
gone  a  step  further  with  the  Bill.' — Well  done,  old 
Gold  Stick!" 

"  House  of  Lords,  Oct.  23rd,  2  o'clock. 

" Premier ement,  let  me  bring  up  the  rear  of  my 
narrative  respecting  the  King  of  New  Zealand.  It  is 
confidently  reported  that  en  dcrricre  both  his  Majest}^ 
and  his  Minister  are  much  more  profusely  decorated 
with  ornamental  carving  than  on  their  faces — but 
3^ou'll  not  quote  me  ! 

"Sefton  told  me  last  night  of  a  conversation  he 
had  had  with  Thanet.  It  seems  Lady  Holland  had 
complained  to  the  latter  in  the  strongest  terms  of  my 
conduct  to  Tierney  on  Tuesday,  and  had  stated  that 
Cole  was  hurt  by  it  to  the  last  degree. — '  What  did 
Thanet  do  or  say?'  says  I. — 'Why,'  says  Sefton,  'he 


iSi9-23.]  MR.   DENIMAN   SUMS    UP.  33I 

snorted  out  into  a  loud  laugh — said  3-ou  was  quite 
right,  and  that  the  Whigs  were  little  better  than  old 
apple-women.' — This  was  a  great  relief  to  me ;  tho'  1 
was  quite  sure  from  Thanet's  manner  all  was  right ; 
but  I  shd.  certainl}'  have  felt  myself  bound  to  surrender 
my  seat  had  we  differed  about  it.  .  .  .  Yesterday  1 
dined  at  Brooks's  with  Ossulston  :  to-da}'-  I  dine  at 
the  Derbys,  with  Brougham,  Denman,  the  Seftons, 
and  a  huge  party,  I  believe.  .  .  .  Gre}^,  according  to 
custom,  has  done  all  the  harm  he  could.  He  is  more 
provoking  in  all  he  does  than  these  villains  of  Ministers 
themselves.  However,  thank  God  the  case  for  the 
Queen  is  closed,  and  all  looks  well." 

"House  of  Lords,  Oct.  24t]i,  2  o'clock. 

".  .  .  Denman  begun  to  sum  up,  and  is  now 
engaged  in  so  doing.  Their  mighty  case,  you  see 
therefore,  is  now  finished,  and  a  miracle  no  doubt  it 
must  appear  to  after  times  that  all  these  charges  of 
an  adulterous  intercourse  which  have  been  got  up 
with  so  much  secrecy — that  begun  six  3'ears  ago  and 
continued  three  years — that  have  had  absolute  power 
and  money  without  end  to  support  them,  have  been 
one  by  one  demonstrably  disproved  by  witnesses  un- 
impeachable. .  .  .  This  admitted  fact  of  the  Queen 
sleeping  on  deck  under  the  awning,  and  Bcrgami  doing 
so  likewise,  under  all  the  explanatory'  circumstances 
of  the  case,  is  the  sole  foundation  of  the  Bill.  .  .  .  And 
now  then— will  the  Lords  pass  the  Bill  ?  I  say  A^o — 1 
say  it  is  impossible :  and  yet  something  the  villains 
of  Ministers  must  do  to  save  their  own  credit.  .  .  . 
The  Duke  of  Portland  told  Lord  Foley  he  was  one  of 
60  peers  who  usually  supported  the  Government,  and 
who  would  vote  against  the  Bill.  This  Foley  told 
me  himself  I  fear  this  is  too  high  an  estimate,  but 
the  Duke  of  Portland  himself  is  a  most  fair  and  honor- 
able person." 

"  Bi-ooks"s,  5  o'clock. 
"  Denman's  last  two  hours  have  been  brilliant.  His 
parallel  case  of  Nero  and  his  wife  Octavia  was  perfect 
in  all  its  parts.  ...  I  am  just  going  to  dinner  at 
Sefton's,  and  then  to  go  and  see  Cymbeline  with  him 
and  Brouoham." 


332  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIII. 

"Brooks's,  Wednesday  morning,  i  past  12. 

".  .  .  Lady  Fitzwilliam  goes  to  pay  her  respects  to 
the  Queen  to-morrow.  Lord  Fitzwilliam  has  been 
here  to-night,  quite  pleased  to  tell  of  his  wife's 
intention.  .  .  .  Lady  jersey  goes  likewise.  .  .  .  Sir 
Willoughby  Gordon  has  just  told  me  he  was  quite 
sure  he  saw  40,000  people,  with  banners,  pass  through 
Piccadilly  to-day  on  their  way  to  the  Queen.  A 
division  from  another  body  passed  us  by  on  the  water 
to  the  same  destination,  and  saluted  us  with  cannon 
as  they  passed." 

"  York  St.,  26th  Oct. 

"...  I  dined  at  Lambton's  yesterday  en  famillc. 
Grey  (who  stays  there)  dined  at  Billy  Gloucester's, 
and  came  in  before  dinner  in  his  prettiest  manner  to 
say  to  me  how  sorry  he  was  he  dined  out.  Apropos 
to  Grey,  he  has  somewhat  made  up  to  me  for  his  past 
conduct  by  a  reply  he  made  to  Liverpool.  The  day 
before  yesterday,  at  the  rising  of  the  House,  the  latter 
came  across  to  Grey,  and,  with  the  usual  muggery 
they  are  always  applying  to  him,  asked  him  what 
adjournment  he  thought  would  be  long  enough  for 
the  consideration  of  the  evidence,  between  the  finish- 
ing by  the  counsel  and  the  2nd  reading;  upon  which 
Grey,  in  his  rudest  manner,  said  he  did  not  see  the 
necessity  for  any  adjournment,  at  all,  as  there  was  not 
a  tittle  of  evidence  to  support  the  Bill !  Our  people, 
who  all  heard  this,  were  delighted  with  it.  .  .  .  Grey 
expressed  the  same  sentiment  to  myself  yesterday  in 
the  strongest  manner.  .  .  .  What  must  the  private 
tutor,  Lauderdale,  say  to  this?  I  wonder  when 
Lauderdale  and  idiots  like  himself  will  begin  to  think 
of  "the  situation  into  which  this  infamous  Bill  has 
thrown  this  town.  Every  Wednesday,  the  scene 
which  caused  such  alarm  at  Manchester  is  repeated 
under  the  very  nose  of  Parliament  and  all  the  con- 
stituted authorities,  and  in  a  tenfold  degree  more 
alarming.  A  certain  number  of  regiments  of  the 
efficient  population  of  the  town  march  on  each  of 
these  days  in  a  regular  lock  step,  four  or  five  abreast 
— banners  flying— music  playing.  ...  I  should  like 
any  one  to  tell  me  what  is  to  come  next  if  this  organised 
army  loses  its  temper.  ..." 


iSi9-2o.]  NEARING  THE    END.  333 

"  House  of  Lords,  28th  Oct.,  2  o'clock. 

".  .  .  Gre3%  Rossi}'!!,  the  Lansdownes,  &c.,  dined  at 
the  Duke  of  Gloucester's  on  Wednesda}',  when  the 
Duchess  after  dinner  talked  to  Lady  Lansdowne  about 
this  trial,  and  said  :— '  It  was  a  very  foolish,  and  indeed 
a  very  wrong  thing  to  have  got  into,  but  the  King  had 
been  ^nraflv  deceived  upon  the  subject.'  My  authority 
for  this  is  Lord  John  Russell,  who  told  me  that  Lady 
Lansdowne  told  him.  This  is  just  as  it  should  be : 
the  gay  deceiver  has  a  good  prospect.  I  wonder  who 
he  is.     Is  it  Leach  or  Eldon  ? 

"  I'll  now  tell  you  another  stor}',  perhaps  not  un- 
connected with  this.  Yesterday  and  to-day  I  have 
walked  to  Kensington  Gardens  before  I  came  here; 
and  to-day  I  met  Lady  Con3mgham  and  Lady  Eliza- 
beth* walking  with  a  footman  behind  them.  You 
know  the  palpable,  unqualified  cid  they  have  treated 
me  with  these  last  two  years,  but  to-day  it  was  quite 
another  thing.  No,  no  !  an  old  acquaintance  was  not 
to  pass  her  in  that  way:  had  there  been  any  bystanders, 
they  might  have  thought  she  was  asking  alms  of  me. 
She  was  evidently  dying  for  me  to  turn  about  with 
her  to  talk  politicks,  and  I  was  an  idiot  not  to  do  it. 
I  might  have  learnt  from  her  how  the  dear  King  had 
been  deceived.  .  .  .  Mr.  Attorney  has  just  finished, 
and  the  Solicitor  has  taken  the  field.  He  has  an- 
nounced that  he  shall  finish  to-day,  and  then  the 
House  will  adjourn  till  Thursday.  The  object  of  this 
adjournment  is  a  last  effort  to  bring  this  noble  jury  to 
their  collars;  but  it  is  too  late — the  charm  for  once 
is  broken.  .  .  ." 

"  3  o'clock. 
".  .  .  Mr.  Solicitor  is  to  have  two  hours  more  on 
Monday  morning.  .  .  ." 

"  Crooks's,  5  o'clock,  Monday,  30th  October. 

".  .  .  Thursday  is  the  day  fixed  for  battle.  Calcraft 
is  the  greatest  croaker ;  his  list  has  been  a  majority 
of  40  for  the  Bill.     He  has  reduced  it  to  35,  and  with 

♦  Her  daughter,  who  married  the  loth  Earl  of  Ilnnlly,  and  died 
without  issue  in  1S39. 


334  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Cii.  XIII. 

this  majority  he  thinks  the  Government  will  carry  the 
Bill,  and  go  with  it  to  the  Commons.  .  .  .  Holland 
has  just  come  to  me  and  had  a  long  conversation  with 
me.  He  has  taken  great  pains  with  iiis  list  too.  .  .  . 
He  gives  a  majority  of  30  for  the  Bill  as  the  maximum, 
and  15  as  the  minimum ;  but  he  is  quite  certain  of  the 
Bill  not  passing  the  Lords.  .  .  .  Lord  Hutchinson 
offers  to  bet  that  200  Peers  will  not  vote.  I  never 
saw  such  a  beautiful  sight  in  my  life  as  the  Brass 
Founders'  procession  to  the  Queen  to-da}''.  I  had  no 
notion  there  had  been  so  many  beautiful  brass  orna- 
ments in  all  the  world.  Their  men  in  armour,  both 
horse  and  foot,  were  capital ;  nor  was  their  humour 
amiss.  The  procession  closed  with  a  very  handsome 
crown  borne  in  state  as  a  present  to  the  Queen, 
preceded  by  a  flag  with  the  words — 'The  Queen's 
Guard  are  Men  oi  Mdal.'  I  am  quite  sure  there  must 
have  been  100,000  people  in  Piccadill}'',  all  in  the  most 
perfect  order.  I  am  very  much  pleased  that  Hutchin- 
son has  taken  to  me  again.  It  is  quite  his  own  doing, 
and  I  am  to  meet  him  at  dinner  at  Rogers's  *  on 
Wednesday." 

Mr.  Western y  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Crccvcy. 

"  Brighton,  October  29th. 
".  .  .  Pray  read  Gobbet's  attack  upon  Denman's 
speech.  He  is  a  foul-mouthed,  malignant  dog;  but 
there  is  so  much  point  in  his  criticism,  that  one  can- 
not help  admitting  there  is  generally  some  truth  in  his 
remarks,  and  I  certainly  agree  in  his  remarks  on  the 
tact  of  this  speech.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  bombast 
nonsense  of  quotations  from  the  devil  knows  where, 
finishing  the  whole — 'Go  and  sin  no  more.'  And  the 
Lords  to  say  this !  .  .  ." 

Mr.  Creevcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Brooks's,  Nov.  i. 

".  .  .  Here  is  Holland,  asking  me  in  the  most 
humble  tone  if  I  really  think  the  Bill  will  pass  the 
Lords.  Grey,  it  seems,  thinks  so,  and  it  is  the  fashion 
to  say  so  to-day.    My  opinion  is  unshaken  that  //  can't.'* 

*  Samuel  Rogers,  the  poet  and  banker. 


i8i9-20.]        WHAT   WILL   BE   THE   MAJORITY?  335 

"  House  of  Lords,  2  o'clock,  2nd  November. 

"  Eldon  begun  this  morning,  and  it  was  expected 
he  would  have  made  a  great  masterly  judicial  summing- 
up  ;  instead  of  which,  he  spoke  for  an  hour  and  a 
quarter  only,  and  a  more  feeble  argument  for  his  own 
vote  I  never  heard  in  all  my  life.  He  begun  by 
intimating  very  clearly  that  the  preamble  of  the  Bill 
was  to  be  altered,  and  the  divorce  part  given  up  : 
then,  without  reserve  or  shame,  he  abandoned  Miocci 
and  Demont,  and,  in  truth,  all  the  filth  of  his  own 
green  bag,  and  all  the  labours  of  the  Milan  commission. 
Howman's  evidence  and  the  admitted  fact  of  Bergami's 
sleeping  on  the  deck  under  the  same  awning  as  the 
Queen,  was  his  sheet  anchor.  .  .  .  He  said  he  was 
perfectly  convinced  of  her  guilt,  and  he  further  said 
that  no  one  w^ho  had  not  the  same  opinion  ought  to 
vote  for  the  second  reading.  Erskine  followed,  and 
had  spoken  for  about  three  quarters  of  an  hour,  when 
he  fainted  away,  and  was  carried  out  of  the  House ; 
since  when,  that  villain  Lauderdale  has  been  speaking. 

"Yesterday  and  today  have  altered  most  materi- 
ally the  state  of  public  opinion  as  to  the  fate  of  this 
diabolical  Bill.  The  cursed  rats  are  said  to  have 
returned  most  rapidl}^  to  their  old  quarters,  and  the 
ministerial  majority  is  rising  in  the  market  to  40,  45 
and  50.  It  is  added,  too,  that  the  Bill  is  certainly  to 
pass,  and  to  be  with  us  on  the  23rd.  I  will  not  give 
my  assent  to  any  one  of  these  reports  till  I  have 
ocular  proof  of  their  being  true;  at  the  same  time, 
with  such  rogues  and  madmen  as  one  has  to  speculate 
upon,  it  is  being  almost  mad  oneself  to  expect  any- 
thing being  done  that  is  right.  .  .  ." 

"         ■ '  •    "  Brooks's,  evening. 

"Primrose,*  who  is  a  government  man,  and  one  of 
the  16  Scotch  Peers,  made  a  very  good  speech  after 
Lauderdale — against  the  Bill.  ...  I  have  just  been 
over  Norfolk  House  with  the  duke,  and  a  capital 
magnificent  shop  it  is.  I  dined  yesterday  at  Rogers's, 
with  Hutchinson,  Brougham,  Denman,  &c. :  to-morrow 
with  Folc3^    Seymour  Bathurst  has  just  told  Lambton 

*  The  4th  Earl  of  Roscbciy,  ^grandfather  of  tlie  present  carl. 


336  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XI 1 1. 

that  the  Bill  will  not  go  beyond  the  2nd  reading.    God 
send  this  may  be  true ! 

"  House  of  Lords,  3rd  Nov.,  ^  past  3. 

"  I  have  not  heard  a/l  Lord  Grey's  speech,  being 
obliged  to  go  into  the  City,  which  I  am  truly  sorry 
for,  as  what  I  did  hear  was  quite  of  the  highest  order 
—beautiful— magnificent— all  honor  and  right  feeling, 
with  the  most  powerful  argument  into  the  bargain. 
There  is  nothing  approaching  this  damned  fellow  in 
the  kingdom,  when  he  mounts  his  best  horse.  .  .  . 
Lord  Liverpool  is  now  answering  Lord  Grey,  and  is 
as  bad  as  one  would  wish  him  to  be." 

"  House  of  Lords,  4th  November,  2  o'clock. 
"...  I  must  say,  since  my  affair  with  Tierney  on 
Wednesday  week  his  behaviour  has  been  perfect :  not 
so  that  of  Young  Cole,*  who  is  now  at  the  same  table 
with  me,  and  would  not  for  the  world  turn  his  beautiful 
e3"es  towards  me." 

"  House  of  Lords,  5th  Nov.,  2  o'clock. 

".  .  .  Lord  Lansdowne  finished  his  speech  in  the 
ver}^  first  rate  style  .  .  .  since  then  the  speakers 
against  the  Bill  have  been  the  Duke  of  Somerset, 
Lords  Enniskillen,  Howard  of  Effingham,  de  Clifford, 
Grantham,  Stafford  and  Calthorpe.  The  speakers  for 
the  Bill  have  been  the  Dukes  of  Athol  and  Northum- 
berland, and  Lord  Grenville  is  now  speaking  on  the 
same  side;  but,  thank  God,  he  comes  too  late.  .  .  . 
Old  Stafford  uttered  an  opinion  that  is  worth  ten 
votes  at  least  in  the  H.  of  Commons.  He  made  no 
doubt  of  the  Bill  being  lost  in  the  H.  of  Commons, 
and  that  then  there  was  an  end  of  the  Constitution. 
It  never  can  come  to  the  H.  of  Commons,  b}^  God! 
That  little  chap  de  Clifford  is  an  agreeable  surprise. 
He  is  such  a  cursed  Queen-hater  that  we  always 
calculated  upon  his  being  for  the  Bill.  We  had  a 
most  agreeable  dinner  yesterday  at  Brooks's — Fitz- 
w^illiam.  Grey,  Cowper,  Norfolk,  Jersey,  Thanet, 
Albemarle— and,   in   short,    17  of  us.     Gre}'   was   all 

*  The  Hon.  James  Abcrcromby,  M.P. 


ISI9-20.]  THE   DIVISION.  337 

good  humour  and  gentleness,  and  I  had  great  pleasure 
in  petting  him — abusing  him  at  the  same  time  for  all 
his  palaver  with  Liverpool  and  Eldon,  particularly 
the  latter.  .  .  .  If  you  could  see  little  Barny  *  with  me 
you  would  say  it  was  almost  too  much.  Every  day  at 
the  rising  of  the  House  he  comes  regularly  to  ask  me 
to  let  him  walk  up  with  me,  and  so  we  do.  At  other 
times  he  is  equally  in  pursuit  of  me.  He  wants  me 
very  much  to  let  him  take  me  a  little  tour  with  him  to 
shew  me  Arundel,  &c.,  &c.  He  wants  me,  too,  to  dine 
with  him  at  Uowt.  'July's'  to-day,  but  I  shall  do  no 
such  thing.     I  dine  at  Ferguson's." 

"  Brooks's,  5  o'clock. 

"All  is  over — that  is  with  the  2nd  reading — 123 
for  the  Bill  and  95  against  it — leaving  a  majority  for 
the  Bill  of  28  only.  This  is  fatal.  Eleven  Bishops 
voted  for  it,  and  the  Archbishop  of  Yorkf  alone 
against  it.  1  am  delighted  the  young  Duke  of  Rich- 
mond X  voted  against  it.  The  other  curious  persons 
on  the  same  side  were  Lords  Bath,  Mansfield,  Bagot, 
Plymouth,  Amherst,  Delawar,  Dartmouth,  Enniskillen, 
Egremont,  Audlej'^,  &c.,  &c.  .  .  ." 


"  House  of  Lords,  Nov.  7,  2  o'clock. 

"Our  first  step  this  morning  was  Lord  Dacre 
presenting  a  protest  from  the  Queen  against  the 
proceedings  of  yesterday.  .  .  .  This  occasioned  a 
short  discussion,  upon  form  only;  excepting,  indeed, 
another  attempt  from  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  in  favor 
of  himself,  in   which,   according   to  his   practice,  he 

distinguished  himself  as  ad d  fool  .  .  .  and  received 

his  final  castigation  from  Grey.  ...  It  is  supposed 
the  Government  have  not  made  up  their  minds  as  to 
what  course  they  are  to  take  and  that  to-day  has  been 
used  by  them  merely  as  a  jaw  for  time.  I  had  a  very 
good-humoured  nod  from  Wellington  this  morning, 
while  the  people  in  the  Park  were  hooting  him." 

♦  The  Duke  of  Norfolk. 

t  Right  Rev.  Edward  Vcnablcs  Vernon. 

%  The  5th  Duke,  father  of  the  present  peer. 

Z 


338  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIII. 

"  Brooks's,  4  o'clock,  8th  Nov. 

"The  House  has  been  up  these  two  hours,  a 
division  having  taken  place  upon  the  question  whether 
the  divorce  clause  should  be  part  of  the  Bill.  In  favor 
of  this  129  voted,  including  all  our  people:  against  it 
there  were  53,  including  every  one  of  the  Ministers, 
and  all  the  Bishops  but  three.  Was  there  ever  such 
a  spectacle !  ...  In  ordinary  times  a  Government 
would  instantly  abandon  a  measure  over  which  they 
had  no  controul ;  there  is  an  end,  however,  here  to 
speculating  upon  men's  conduct.  .  .  .  And  now  let 
me  give  you  a  little  joke  of  mine  which  is  very  favor- 
ably received.  Many  of  us  are  invited  to  dine  at 
Guildhall  to-morrow  by  very  large  cards  of  invitation 
from  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Sheriffs;  so,  having  procured 
a  card  of  equal  dimensions,  I  send  it  to  Lord  Kensing- 
ton with  this  alteration  only  in  the  style  and  contents 
— '  Messrs.  Gog  and  Magog  present  their  compts., 
&c.,  &c.,  and  request  the  pleasure  of  his  lordship's 
company  at  Guildhall  to  partake  with  them  of  a  Baron 
of  Beef.'  .  .  ." 

"  Brooks's,  Nov.  9. 

".  .  .  Castlereagh  got  roughly  handled  at  Covent 
Garden  last  night ;  so  much  so,  as  to  be  obliged  to 
decamp  from  the  house.  Erskine  was  greatly 
applauded.  .  .  ." 

"  Brooks's,  Nov.  10,  3  o'clock. 

"  Three  times  three  !  if  you  please,  before  you  read 
a  word  further.  The  Bill  is  gone,  thank  God  !  to  the 
devil.  Their  majority  was  brought  down  to  9 — 108 
to  99 ;  and  then  the  dolorous  Liverpool  came  forward 
and  struck.  He  moved  that  his  ozvn  Bill  be  read  this 
day  six  months.  You  may  well  suppose  the  state  we 
are  all  in.  The  Queen  was  in  the  House  at  the  time, 
but  Brougham  sent  her  off  instantly.  .  .  .  The  state 
of  the  town  is  beyond  everything.  I  wish  to  God 
you  could  see  Western.  He  is  close  by  my  side,  but 
has  not  uttered  yet — such  is  his  surprise." 

"  York  Street,  nth  Nov. 
"  I  was  a  bad  boy  for  the  first  time  last  night,  and 
drank  an  extra  bottle  of  claret  with  Foley,  Dundas, 


i8i9-20.]  THE    BILL   ABANDONED.  339 

Western,  &c.,  &c.,  in  the  midst  of  our  brilliant  illumi- 
nations at  Brooks's  :  not  that  I  was  the  least  scrcuD', 
but  it  has  made  me  somewhat  nervous.  .  .  .  We  could 
distinctly  see  there  were  high  words  between  Liver- 
pool and  Eldon  before  the  former  struck  his  colours, 
and  when  he  moved  the  further  consideration  that 
day  six  months,  Eldon  answered  with  a  very  distinct 
and  audible  '  Not  content'  It  is  quite  impossible  any 
human  being  could  have  disgraced  himself  more  than 
the  Duke  of  Clarence.  When  his  name  was  called  in 
the  division  on  the  3rd  reading,  he  leaned  over  the 
rail  of  the  gallery  as  far  into  the  House  as  he  could, 
and  then  halloed — '  Content,'  with  a  yell  that  would 
quite  have  become  a  savage.  The  Duke  of  York 
followed  with  his  'Content'  delivered  with  singular 
propriety.  ...  It  must  always  be  remembered  to  the 
credit  of  our  hereditary  aristocracy  that  a  decided 
majority  voted  against  this  wicked  Bill.  It  was  the 
two  sets  of  Union  Peers  *  and  these  villains  of  the 
Church  t  that  nearly  destroyed  for  ever  the  character 
of  the  House  of  Lords.  However,  thank  God  it  is  no 
worse. 

"  I  have  said  nothing  to  you  of  my  City  feast.  .  .  . 
My  attention  was  directed  to  a  much  more  splendid 
object  t — the  Princess  Olivia  of  Cumberland.§  No 
one  can  have  any  doubts  of  the  royalty  ofjier  birth. 
She  is  the  very  image  of  our  Royal  family.  Her 
person  is  upon  the  model  of  the  Princess  Elizabeth,li 

*  The  Representative  Peers  of  Scotland  and  Ireland. 

t  The  Bishops. 

X  Than  Madame  Oldi,  whom  he  has  described. 

§  This  remarkable  woman,  Olive  Wilmot  Serres,  presented  a 
petition  to  the  House  of  Commons,  14th  July,  1820,  setting  forth  that 
she  was  the  legitimate  daughter  of  William,  Duke  of  Cumberland, 
second  son  of  George  II.,  and  claiming  recognition  as  such.  She  was 
the  daughter  of  a  house  painter  in  Warwick  named  Wilmot,  and 
married  a  foreigner  named  Serres,  by  profession  a  painter.  Her 
striking  resemblance  to  the  royal  family  seems  to  have  convinced 
many  persons  of  the  truth  of  her  story,  which  was  totally  unsupported 
by  any  valid  evidence.  [See  Annual  Register,  vol.  Ixii.  p.  331  ;  and 
vol.  xliii.  p.  150.] 

II  Third  daughter  of  George  III.,  married  in  1S18  to  Frederick, 
Landgrave  of  Hesse-Homburg. 

2    A 


340  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIII. 

only  at  least  three  times  her  size.  She  wore  the  most 
brilliant  rose-coloured  satin  gown  you  ever  saw,  with 
fancy  shawls  (more  than  one)  flung  in  different  forms 
over  her  shoulders,  after  the  manner  of  the  late  Lady 
Hamilton.  Then  she  had  diamonds  in  profusion  hung 
from  every  part  of  her  head  but  her  nose,  and  the 
whole  was  covered  with  feathers  that  would  have 
done  credit  to  any  hearse.  Well!  after  another 
quarter  of  an  hour  we  all  took  the  field  again— the 
Lord  Mayor  at  our  head,  and  the  gentle  Lansdowne 
following  with  dear  Miss  Thorpe  *  under  his  arm.  As 
we  approached  the  great  splendid  hall,  the  procession 
halted  for  nearly  ten  minutes,  which  we  in  the  rear 
could  not  comprehend.  It  turned  out  that  Princess 
Olivia  of  Cumberland  had  made  her  claim  as  Princess 
of  the  Blood  to  sit  at  the  right  hand  of  my  Lord 
Mayor.  The  worthy  magistrate,  however,  with  great 
spirit  resisted  these  pretensions,  and,  after  much 
altercation  .  .  .  she  was  compelled  to  retreat  to 
another  table,  leaving  the  three  Miss  Thorpes  the 
only  ladies  who  had  the  honor  to  be  surrounded  by 
our  English  nobility.  .  .  .  The  company  assembled 
in  the  hall  were  nine  hundred  in  number,  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  at  five  tables.  .  .  .  We  were  marched 
entirely  round  the  hall,  till  we  arrived  at  the  top, 
where  a  table  on  a  slight  elevation  went  across  the 
hall  for  us  guests.  Western's  great  delight  was  three 
men  in  complete  armour  from  top  to  toe,  with 
immense  plumes  of  feathers  upon  their  helmets. 
They  were  seated  in  three  niches  in  the  wall  over  our 
table.  ...  It  was  their  duty  to  rise  and  wave  their 
truncheons  when  the  Lord  Mayor  rose  and  gave  his 
toasts ;  which  they  did  with  great  effect,  till  one  of 
them  fainted  away  with  heat  and  fell  out  of  his  hole 
upon  the  heads  of  the  people  below.  .  .  . 

"  It  is  an  abominable  outrage  to  leave  the  Queen 
till  February  or  the  end  of  January  without  addresses 
from  the  two  Houses  upon  her  coming  to  the  Throne, 
and  without  making  any  pecuniary  provision  for  her ; 
but  so  it  will  be,  for  of  course  the  Black  Rod  will  tap 
at  our  door  on  the  23rd  the  moment  the  Speaker  is  in 
the   chair,  and   thus    Parliament    will   be   prorogued 

*  The  Lord  Mayor's  daughter. 


i8i9-20.]  THE   PROROGATION.  341 

before  a  word  of  complaint  can  be  uttered  on  this 
shameful  conduct.  Thank  God,  however,  whoever  is 
Minister  has  a  pleasant  time  before  him.  The  people 
have  learnt  a  great  lesson  from  this  wicked  proceed- 
ing :  they  have  learnt  how  to  marshal  and  organise 
themselves,  and  they  have  learnt  at  the  same  time  the 
success  of  their  strength.  Waithman,  who  has  just 
called  upon  me,  tells  me  that  the  arrangements  made 
in  every  parish  in  and  about  London  on  this  occasion 
are  perfectly  miraculous — quite  new  in  their  nature — 
and  that  they  will  be  of  eternal  application  in  all  our 
public  affairs.  .  .  .  They  say  the  river  below  bridge 
to-day  is  the  most  beautiful  sight  in  the  world  ;  ever^- 
vessel  is  covered  with  colors,  and  at  the  head  of  the 
tallest  mast  in  the  river  is  the  effigy  of  a  Bishop,  20 
or  30  feet  in  length,  with  his  heels  uppermost,  hang- 
ing from  the  masthead. 

"  I  enclose  a  little  love-letter  I  got  from  Lady 
Holland  some  days  since.  It  was  preceded  by  a 
message  to  the  same  effect  a  day  or  two  before  ;  but, 
as  you  may  suppose,  I  have  taken  no  notice  of  either."  * 

"  Brooks's,  Nov.  23,  4  o'clock. 

"No!  I  have  seen  many  things  in  my  life,  but,  in 
point  of  atrocity,  nothing  equal  to  our  proceedings  of 
to-day  in  the  H.  of  Commons.  Brougham  wrote  a 
note  last  night  both  to  the  Speaker  and  Lord  Castle- 
reagh,  telling  them  he  should  have  a  communication 
to  make  to  the  H.  of  Commons  from  the  Queen. 
Castlereagh  did  not  answer  the  note  ;  but  the  Speaker 
wrote  him  an  answer  that  he  would  take  the  chair 
at  h  past  2,  provided  there  were  members  enough 
present  to  make  a  house.  We  were  there,  of  course, 
in  great  force,  and  he  took  the  chair  at  the  time 
appointed ;  but,  after  swearing  in  two  new  members, 
and  when  Denman  was  upon  his  legs,  just  opening 
the  Queen's  communication,  the  Usher  of  the  Black 
Rod  knocked  at  the  door.  .  .  .  You  may  suppose 
we   all   made   a   lusty  holloa   of  'Mr.   Denman!  Mr. 

*  Holland  House  disapproved  of  the  activity  of  "the  Mountain" 
in  the  Queen's  defence  ;  while  Creevey  and  the  rest  of  the  Mountain 
resented  bitterly  the  deference  shown  by  Holland  House  to  the  King's 
party. 


342  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIII. 

Denman ! '  The  Speaker,  however,  left  the  chair, 
upon  which  Bennet  called  out  with  a  loud  voice — 
'  This  is  scandalous  ! '  As  the  Speaker  walked  down 
the  house,  followed  by  Castlereagh,  Vansittart  and  a 
few  others,  we  holloaed  out — '  Shame  !  shame  ! '  that 
might  have  been  heard  in  any  part  of  Westminster 
Hall.  Certainly  such  a  scene  has  never  occurred 
in  the  H.  of  Commons  since  Charles  the  ist's  time. 
There  were  150  members  present.  The  villains  dared 
not  shew  this  specimen  01  their  low  and  pitiful  spite 
in  public  :  the  galleries  were  closed ;  but  Lambton  has 
just  given  the  editor  of  the  Traveller  an  account  of 
what  passed.  Canning  was  not  in  the  House.  .  .  . 
After  all,  there  was  no  Speech  from  the  Throne,  quite 
contrary  to  all  practices.  If  there  had  beeti  one,  the 
Speaker  must  have  come  back  to  report  it  to  us ;  but 
this  was  the  thing  meant  to  be  avoided ;  so,  after 
being  literally  hooted  out  of  our  House,  after  going 
from  the  Lords  he  found  his  way  the  nearest  road 
home,  leaving  us  to  find  out  as  we  could  that  we 
were  actually  prorogued." 


MRS.  CkliEVKY, 


[To  face  p.  342. 


(     343     ) 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

1821. 

The  domestic  annals  of  182 1  arc  scarcely  less  painful 
reading  than  those  of  1820,  so  deeply  smirched  with 
the  abortive  proceedings  against  Queen  Caroline. 
The  domestic  affairs  of  King  George  IV.  continued 
to  be  of  a  nature  to  bring  the  monarchy  into  irrepar- 
able disrepute,  the  Marchioness  Conyngham  reigning 
as  inaitresse-en-titre.  Nevertheless,  preparations  went 
forward  on  a  prodigious  scale  for  celebrating  his 
coronation.  Parliament  voted  ;^243,ooo  for  the  pur- 
pose, which,  when  it  is  considered  in  contrast  with 
;i^70,ooo  expended  on  the  coronation  of  Queen  Vic- 
toria, may  give  rise  to  curious  reflections  upon  the 
relative  value  returned  to  their  subjects  by  the  two 
sovereigns.  The  coronation  of  George  IV.  was 
saddened  by  the  last  scene  in  the  squalid  tragedy  of 
Queen  Caroline. 


Mr.  Crccvcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  London,  January  15th,  1821. 

".  .  .  There  is  the  most  infamous  newspaper  just 
set   up  that  was   ever  seen   in   the  world — by  name 

2  B 


344  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIV. 

John  Bull.  Its  personal  scurrility  exceeds  by  miles 
anything  ever  written  before.  In  accounting  for  the 
motives  which  have  influenced  the  different  ladies 
who  have  called  upon  the  Queen,  it  states  yesterday 
without  equivocation,  reserve,  or  by  any  inuendo,  but 

plainly,  that  Lady  T and  Lady  M B were 

induced  to  go  by  threats  respecting  the  criminal  inter- 
course that  took  place  between  Lady  C W 

and  a  menial  servant.  You  will  not  be  surprised  that 
O is  furious.*  .  .  ." 

"  17th  Jan. 

"...  I  dined  at  Taylor's  on  Monday,  and  in  the 
evening  came  Ferguson,  Bennet,  Mrs.  G.  Lambe, 
Lord  Auckland  and  Brougham.  The  latter  exceeds 
in  oddity  and  queerness  anything  I  ever  beheld. 
What  the  devil  he  is  at  I  cannot  for  the  life  of  me 
make  out.  He  is  all  for  moderation^  and  his  constant 
fellow-counsellors  are  Tierney,  Scarlett  f  and  Aber- 
cromby.  I  favored  him  with  my  fixed  determination 
how  I  should  act,  and  if  you  had  heard  him  try  to 
humbug  me  about  the  transitory  nature  of  this 
popular  ferment,  comparing  it  to  the  Duke  of  York's 
case  and  Mrs.  Clarke,  you  would  have  snorted  out  in 
his  face.  Yesterday,  however,  brought  me  a  note 
from  him,  and  to-day  another  to  dine  with  him,  and  I 
am  going  accordingl3\  .  .  ." 

"  19th  Jan. 

"...  I  dined  with  Brougham  on  Wednesda}',  but 
had  not  much  good  of  him,  as  we  were  not  alone.  .  .  . 
I  looked  into  Brooks's  afterwards,  and  found  Scarlett 
there.  He  was  as  pompous  as  be  damned  about 
publick  affairs — change  of  Ministers — meeting  of 
Parliament,  &c.,  till  1  frightened  him  out  of  his  wits 
by  announcing  to  him  the  certainty  of  an  opposition 
and  division  on  Tuesday  next. 

"  Yesterday  I  met  Brougham  in  the  streets,  and 
had  a  long  walk  with  him,  and  found  him  much  im- 
proved in  temper — all  sunshine,  in  fact.  He  sa3^s  he 
never  saw  any  one  so  improved  as  the  Queen  ;  that 
she  really  is  very  entertaining,  particularly  upon  the 

*  The  names  indicated  by  initials,  here  and  elsewhere,  are  given 
in  full  in  the  original. 

t  Created  Lord  Abinger  in  1835. 


i82i.]  THE    QUEEN'S    ESTABLISHMENT.  345 

subject  of  her  travels.  He  is  to  manage  a  dinner  for 
me  there  at  an  early  date,  and  at  her  early  hour, 
which  is  3.  .  .  .  Meantime,  her  establishment  is  on 
the  stocks  and  is  getting  on — the  Duke  of  Roxburgh 
Grand  Chamberlain,  a  young  nobleman  of  86,  so  that 
the  breath  of  scandal  can  never  touch  this  appoint- 
ment. He  is,  however,  a  very  excellent  old  man,  and 
a  Whig,  and  is  worth  at  least  ;^5o,ooo  per  ann.  Poor 
Romilly  gained  him  his  estate,  and  had  the  highest 
possible  opinion  of  him.  The  poor  old  fellow  declined 
at  first,  and  indeed  now  has  consented  with  reluctance. 
I  saw  his  letter  to  Brougham  yesterday  upon  this 
subject,  which  was  quite  as  good  as  any  play.  It 
seems  he  married  for  the  first  time  5  or  6  years  ago, 
and  has  children.  He  asks  Brougham,  therefore,  if 
her  Majesty  is  fond  of  children,  and  if  he  may  bring 
his  little  ones  from  Scotland  to  present  to  her;  and 
then  he  says  he  will  only  undertake  the  office  of 
Chamberlain  upon  condition  that  he  (Brougham)  will 
be  guardian  to  the  Marquis  of  Beaumont,  aged  4 
years  and  a  half — the  Duke's  son.  This  condition, 
however,  is  a  secret  Bruff"am  affected  to  be  squeamish 
as  to  accepting  this  trust,  but  the  job  is  done.  Lord 
Hood  is  to  be  another  of  the  Queen's  household ;  a 
Countess  of  Roscommon  (Irish)  is  mentioned  as  one 
of  the  female  staff;  Lady  Charlotte  Lindsay,  Sic,  &c. 
Pray  read  Lord  Holland's  letter  to  the  ^A^iltshire 
meeting  ;  is  not  his  anxiety  for  the  Queen  quite  affect- 
ing, after  all  one  knows  of  my  lady's  virtuous  indigna- 
tion against  her?  ...  I  dined  with  Mrs.  Taylor 
yesterday — Taylor  and  Miss  Ferguson  being  engaged 
at  Coutts's  to  celebrate  his  wedding  day.  They 
returned  in  the  evening ;  Miss  Ferguson,  from  her 
appearance,  might  have  been  in  a  hot  bath.  They 
sat  down  to  dinner  30  :  old  Coutts  and  his  bride  sitting 
side  by  side  at  the  top  of  the  table.  The  Dukes  of 
York,  Clarence  and  Sussex  were  there  ;  at  side-tables 
were  placed  musicians  and  songsters ;  one  of  the 
latter  fraternity  from  Bath  was  paid  i?ioo  for  his  trip." 

"21  Jan. 

".  .  .  Sefton  and  I  are  going  at  12  in  his  cabriolet 
towards  Brandenburgh  House,  to  see  the  addressers 
and  processions  to  the  Queen.     Meantime  the  streets 


34<5  THE  CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIV. 

are  chuck  full  of  people,  quite  as  much  as  four  months 
ago. 

"  Lord  Holland  came  up  to  me  at  Brooks's  yester- 
day, and  reproached  me  for  never  coming  near  my 
lady  ;  and,  after  many  civil  things  in  his  pretty  manner, 
he  said  I  should  go  and  see  her  with  him.  So  I  did, 
and  she  was  all  civility  and  luiinilitv.  At  parting,  she 
begg'd  I  would  look  in  upon  her  in  the  evening,  and 
I  found  afterwards  she  had  written  to  Lord  Sefton  in 
the  morning,  begging  he  would  accomplish  this  great 
point  with  me.  .  .  . 

'^Apropos  of  Tierney,  a  funny  thing  happened 
about  him  some  time  ago  at  Cashiobury.  Decaze 
and  Tierney  being  both  dining  there,  Decaze  said — 
*  If  the  Opposition  came  in,  what  would  they  do  with 
Napoleon?' — Upon  which  says  old  Cole*  in  her  way 
— *  Why,  put  him  on  the  throne  of  France,  to  be  sure  1  * 
Which  sentiment  was  sent  off  by  a  special  courier  to 
old  Louis  le  desire  the  instant  Decaze  returned  from 
dinner.  Old  Louis  forwarded  the  frightful  intelligence 
to  Troppau,  where  the  Emperor  Alexander  has  made 
the  regular  complaint  and  remonstrance  to  Gordon, 
our  Minister  there,  who  has  returned  it  duly  to  the 
Foreign  Office.  The  most  comical  thing  is  the 
different  ways  in  which  Castlereagh  and  Tierney  take 
it.  The  former  has  sent  the  latter  a  funny  message, 
saying  he  wishes  he  would  have  no  more  jokes  with 
Decaze  about  Buonaparte,  for  that  he  has  played  the 
devil  at  Troppau.  But  old  Cole  is  frightened  out  of 
her  wits,  and  talks  of  nothing  else — is  apprehensive 
the  country  gentlemen  will  be  out  with  it  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  and  that  //  may  do  the  party  a  serious 
injury.  She  and  Decaze  had  a  meeting  yesterday,  and 
the  latter  has  agreed  if  necessary  to  depose  on  oath 
that  he  believes  Tierney's  observation  was  only  made 
in  joke. 

"  Holland  set  off  at  four  this  morning  for  Oxford, 
to  help  Lord  Jersey  at  his  county  meeting.f  It  was 
with  the  greatest  difficulty  my  lady  let  him  go,  and 
he  begged  me  not  to  mention  it  before  her,  as  it  was 
a  very  sore  subject^ 

*  Tierney. 

fin  support  of  Queen  Caroline. 


i82i.]  ..    THE   SUMMARY   PROROGATION.  347 

"  23rd  Jan. 

"  Late  as  it  is  (being  precisely  one  according  to  the 
watchman)  I  must  have  a  word  with  you  before  I  go 
to  bed.  I  dined,  as  you  know,  at  Sefton's  with 
Brougham,  and  at  h  past  nine  they  both  pressed  me 
to  go  to  Burlington  House,  which  (tho'  1  had  been 
summoned  by  the  circular  note)  I  declined.  Before 
they  went,  however,  I  pressed  upon  Brougham  the 
absolute  necessity  of  having  a  vigorous  discussion,  if 
not  division,  upon  the  outrage  offered  to  the  H.  of 
Commons  by  the  last  prorogation  without  a  speech 
from  the  throne  under  all  the  extraordinary  circum- 
stances of  the  case.  1  pointed  out  to  him  how  the 
thing  ought  to  be  done  before  the  King's  Speech  was 
entered  upon,  and  finally  told  him,  if  the  meeting  at 
Burlington  House  did  not  take  this  line,  Folkestone 
and  Western  most  likely  would.  It  is  impossible  to 
convey  to  you  a  notion  of  his  artificial,  disingenuous 
jaw  upon  this  subject,  evidently  shewing  that  he  was 
for  nothing  being  done.  And  so  off  they  went,  and  I 
to  Brooks's,  where  I  met  Folkestone,  who  says  he 
will  take  his  line,  and  Western  will  support  him. 

"About  \  past  eleven  the  party  came  in,  having 
done  (as  it  appears  to  me)  as  much  mischief  as  they 
could  in  so  short  a  time.  Nothing  to  be  done  to- 
morrow, and  Tavistock  to  move  on  Friday  a  censure 
upon  Ministers — in  other  words,  a  motion  to  turn 
them  out,  and  to  supply  their  places  with  our  own 
people — the  only  motion  to  do  the  Ministers  the  least 
service,  as  /  think,  under  all  their  great  difficulties. 
This  is  the  more  provoking,  because  Tavistock,  from 
the  same  motive  with  myself,  did  not  attend  this 
meeting,  and  yet  had  yielded  to  the  views  of  some  one 
in  letting  a  notice  of  this  motion  be  given  for  him. 
Was  there  ever  anything  like  the  inveterate  folly  of 
this  Cole  in  pursuit  of  her  maze?  .  .  ." 

"  24th  Jan. 

".  .  .  As  to  Folkestone's  intended  proceedings 
yesterday,  they  were  knocked  on  the  head  by  the 
discovery  of  one  precedent  in  the  late  King's  time, 
in  which  a  Parliament  had  been  prorogued  without 
a  Speech,  and  by  the  thanks  given  in  3'esterday's 
Speech  for  the  supplies  of  last  year.  .  .  ." 


348  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIV. 

"  26th. 

"Nothing  to-day,  excepting  Wellington's  scrape 
last  night  in  calling  public  meetings  'a  farce.'  *  Was 
there  ever  such  a  goose  to  get  into  such  a  mess  ? 
He  was  pummelled  black  and  blue  by  Carnarvon, 
Lansdowne  and  Holland,  and  had  not  only  to  apolo- 
gise himself,  but  to  get  Liverpool  to  do  the  same  for 
him.  .  .  .  You  never  saw  a  fellow  so  vicious  as  Grey, 
but  all  cordiality  and  good  fellowship  between  him 
and  me. 

"  Pray  tell  me  how  I  am  to  act  upon  a  point  of 
form.  I  am  invited  to  dine  on  Sunday  week  both  by 
the  Duke  of  Sussex  and  the  Speaker,  and  both  are 
considered  as  commands.  .  .  ." 

"  29th  Jan. 

",  .  .  Saturday  I  dined  at  the  Fox  Club — about 
100  of  us,  Grandees  and  Tiers-etat  united.  We  are 
getting  very  much  into  the  Reform  line,  I  assure  you. 
The  Duke  of  Devonshire  has  declared  for  Reform  : 
Slice  t  of  Gloucester  at  Holkham  ten  days  ago  with 
royal  solemnity  declared  himself  a  Radical.  Yester- 
day I  dined  at  the  Duke  of  Sussex's,  having  contrived 
through  Stephenson  to  change  my  day  from  next  Sun- 
day. Lord  Thanet  took  me,  and  our  party  were  the 
Dukes  of  Gloucester  and  Leinster,  Lord  Fitzwilliam, 
Thanet,  Grey,  Erskine,  Cowper,  Albemarle,  Bob 
Adair  and  myself  We  had  an  agreeable  day 
enough.  Slice  kept  us  waiting  three-quarters  of  an 
hour,  but  this  time  was  not  thrown  away.  Sussex 
told  us  in  confidence,  that  the  obstacle  to  the  Queen's 
name  being  restored  to  the  Prayer  Book  did  not 
come  from  the  King,  but  that  he  could  not  tell  us 

*  The  Duke,  being  taken  to  task  in  the  House  of  Lords  for 
having,  as  Lord-Lieutenantof  Hampshire,  refused  to  convene  a  county 
meeting  to  protest  against  the  proceedings  in  the  matter  of  the  royal 
divorce,  replied  with  characteristic,  but  injudicious,  bluntness  that, 
having  already  presented  a  petition  in  favour  of  the  Queen  signed 
by  9000  persons  in  that  county,  he  did  not  see  what  good  purpose 
could  be  served  by  "  going  through  the  farce  of  a  county  meeting." 
It  was  an  unlucky  expression,  and  was  brought  up  against  him  on 
numerous  occasions  for  many  years. 

t  H.R.H.  the  Duke  of  Gloucester. 


l82i.]  THE    PRETENDER   OLIVIA.  349 

more;  and  even  for  this  valuable  communication  he 
desired  not  to  be  quoted.  I  was  surprised  to  hear 
Lord  Grey  say  that  he  knew  this  to  be  true. 

"  Then  Sussex  entertained  us  with  stories  of  his 
cousin  Olivia  of  Cumberland,  with  whom,  for  fun's 
sake,  as  he  says,  he  has  had  various  interviews, 
during  which  she  has  always  pressed  upon  him,  in 
support  of  her  claims,  her  remarkable  likeness  to 
the  Royal  Family.  Upon  one  occasion,  being  rather 
off  her  guard  from  temper  or  liquor,  she  smacked  off 
her  wig  all  at  once,  and  said — '  Why,  did  you  ever  in 
3'our  life  see  such  a  likeness  to  yourself?'  It  seems 
that  she  lived  in  the  capacity  of  Pop  Lolly  to  Lord 
Warwick  for  many  of  the  latter  years  of  her  life,  and 
it  is  from  some  papers  of  his,  and  with  the  assistance 
of  others,  that  she  has  at  length  started  into  the  royal 
line.* 

"  Grey  and  Lambton  and  Lady  Louisa  had  been 
all  at  Brandenburg  House  yesterday  morning  ;  and 
my  lord's  nam.e  was  scarcely  written  by  him,  before 
the  news  flew  like  wildfire  to  the  Queen,  and  he  was 
told  she  begged  to  see  him.  So  in  he  and  Lambton 
went,  and  she  seemed  to  be  very  much  pleased,  and 
so  was  he.  So  it's  all  very  well — better  late  than 
never.  .  .  . 

"  I  have  two  more  Royalties  to  give  you,  and  then 
I  have  done  with  the  family.  At  the  Levee  on  Friday, 
the  King  turned  his  back  upon  Prince  Leopold  in  the 
most  pointed  manner  ;  upon  which  the  said  Leopold, 
without  any  alteration  on  a  muscle  of  his  face,  walked 
up  to  the  Duke  of  York,  and  in  hearing  of  every  one 
near  him  said — 'The  King  has  thought  proper  at  last 
to  take  his  line,  and  I  shall  take  mine'' — and  so,  with 
becoming  German  dignity,  marched  out  of  the  house. 

"  You  will  be  affected  to  hear  that  the  dear 
Duchess  of  Gloucester  is  not  happy,  and  that,  tho' 
Slice  is  in  politicks  a  Radical,  in  domestic  life  he  is 
a  tyrant.  Some  lady  called  on  the  Duchess  (indeed 
it  has  happened  to  two  different  ladies),  and,  being 
admitted,  was  marched  up  quite  to  the  top  of 
the  house ;  where,  being  arrived  out  of  breath,  the 
Duchess  apologised  with  great  feeling  for  the  trouble 

*  See  p.  339,  note. 


350  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Cii.  XIV- 

she  caused  her  in  bringing  her  up  so  far,  but  that  in 
truth  it  was  owing  to  the  cruel  manner  in  which  she 
was  treated  by  the  Duke — that  he  had  taken  it  into 
his  head  that  the  suite  of  rooms  on  the  drawing-room 
floor  were  not  kept  in  sufficiently  nice  order,  and  on 
that  account  he  had  them  locked  up,  and  kept  the 
keys  himself  ...  It  is  no  wonder  that  the  King 
treated  Slice  the  last  time  he  was  at  Court  with  the 
same  sauce  he  did  Leopold.  The  Radical  has  de- 
clared he  will  never  go  again. 

"  Before  dinner,  we  had  some  conversation  upon 
the  old  story  whether  Francis  was  Junius,  Grey  and 
Erskine  both  expressing  their  most  perfect  con- 
viction that  he  was.  Erskine  mentioned  a  curious 
thing,  which  was  confirmed  by  Lord  Thanet.  It 
seems  they  were  both  dining  with  Lady  Francis, 
since  Sir  Philip's  death,  when  Erskine  asked  her  if 
Francis  ever  told  her,  or  whether  she  ever  collected 
from  his  conversation,  that  he  was  the  author  of 
Junius.  To  which  she  answered  that  he  had  never 
mentioned  the  subject,  and  that  the  only  allusion  to 
it  was  in  a  book.  So  she  went  out  of  the  room,  and 
brought  back  the  little  book  'Junius  Identified,'  and 
in  the  title  page  was  written  *  Francis,'  and,  signed 
with  his  name — '  I  leave  this  book  as  a  legacy  to  my 
dear  wife.'  This  I  think,  considering  he  never  would 
touch  the  subject  or  the  book  of 'Junius  Identified,' 
affords  an  additional  strong  presumption  it  was  he. 

"  Erskine  was  to  the  last  degree  ridiculous  at 
dinner.  Upon  Warren's  name  being  mentioned,  he 
said  he  certainly  could  not  be  called  a  *  free  Warren,* 
and  then  added — *  indeed  i-abbits  were  hole-and-corner 
men,  and  who  could  say  they  were  not  ? ' 

**  Upon  some  objections  being  taken  to  Erskine's 
wig  at  dinner,  he  said  it  had  been  made  for  Coutts, 
and  that  Mrs.  Coutts  had  been  kind  enough  to  give  it 
to  him  ;  and  then  he  pulled  it  off,  when,  to  all  our 
great  surprise,  tho'  bald,  he  looked  so  beautiful  and 
young  he  might  have  been  35  or  40  years  of  age  at 
most*  He  was  so  impressed  with  our  compliments 
that  he  has  promised  to  abandon  wigs  altogether 
when  warm  weather  comes. 

*  Erskine  was  then  seventy-one. 


i82i.]  LADY    HOLLAND   AT    HOME.  351 

"  Slice,  who  I  had  never  met  before,  and  who,  you 
know,  is  a  proverbial  bore,  behaved  very  well  and 
modestly,  which  of  course  was  owing  to  his  being 
only  second  fiddle;  but  I  assure  you  the  two  cousins 
made  a  very  good  exhibition  of  Royalty,  both  in 
propriety  and  agreeableness. 

"  Thanet  brought  me  back — first  to  Lady  Jersey's, 
but  she  was  not  ready  to  receive  her  company,  so 
we  came  to  Brooks's.  Then  Cowper  took  me  to 
Lady  Holland's,  where  her  ladyship  looked  as  forlorn 
and  discontented  as  ever  she  could  look.  She  was  in 
state,  with  Henry  *  at  her  feet — few  men — no  ladies, 
and  the  whole  concern  to  the  greatest  degree  sombre. 
Her  great  aversion  at  present  is  Lady  jersey,  as 
taking  her  company  from  her,  which  I  don't  wonder 
at,  as  Cowper  and  I  soon  went  there,  and  found  a 
very  merry  party,  cracking  their  jokes  about  a  round 
table.  Lady  Jersey  herself  is  a  host,  and  then  there 
were  Brougham,  Grey,  Lambton,  Lord  Jersey,  Dun- 
cannon,  Lord  and  Lady  Ossulston,  Lady  Sefton,  Lord 
A.  Hamilton,  Cowper  and  myself:  so  it  was  all  very 
well.  My  lady  was  all  *  mug '  to  me  about  my  farce 
on  Friday,t  and  at  parting  desired  me  to  lose  no  time 
in  firing  into  them  again. 

"  It  has  given  me  great  pleasure  to  see  Sir  Lowry 
Cole's  name  stand  next  to  mine  in  the  list  of  the 
division.  To  some  one  who  talked  to  him  whilst  we 
were  dividing,  he  said  he  never  had  but  one  opinion 
as  to  the  impropriety  of  striking  the  Queen's  name 
out  of  the  Liturgy,  and  he  was  glad  the  time  was 
come  when  he  could  express  his  opinion  by  his  vote. 
Upon  my  word,  the  gentlemanly  conduct  of  these 
soldiers — Lord  Howard  and  Sir  Lowry  Cole — both 
dependent  to  a  great  degree  upon  the  Crown,  is  quite 
touching.  They  leave  your  independent  squires  a 
hundred   miles  behind  them.  ...  Of  publick  aff'airs 

*  Lord  Holland. 

t  A  speech  on  going  into  Committee  of  Supply,  of  which  Crccvey 
says  in  another  letter — ''  This  little  sortie  was,  I  assure  you,  rather 
well  done,  and  eminently  useful  in  a  very  crowded  House.  '  Mouldy ' 
[Mr.  Vansittart,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  afterwards  Lord 
Bexley]  made  an  attempt  to  punish  me,  but  was  instantly  smothered 
in  universal  derision." 


352  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.      [Ch.  XIV. 

there  is  nothing  new.  If  the  people  keep  up  their 
feelings,  and  the  expression  of  them  as  strongly  as 
ever,  on  the  subject  of  the  Queen's  exclusion  from  the 
Liturgy,  the  Government  and  their  followers  are  no 
better  off,  and  in  truth  much  worse  than  before  they 
waded  so  triumphantly  thro'  the  dirt  on  Friday.  I 
keep  to  my  creed  that  this  blackguard,  foolish  war 
with  the  Queen  will  eventually  ruin  the  Ministers 
and  produce  some  great  change  in  the  House  of 
Commons." 

"  Brooks's,  30th  Jan.,  1821. 

"...  I  dined  at  Sefton's  yesterday — Lord  Grey, 
Lady  Louisa  and  Lambton  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bruff- 
ham.  .  .  .  Grey  is  so  keen  with  me  about  giving 
Brother  Bragge  *  a  dust  about  accepting  his  office  and 
not  vacating  his  seat,  that  I  must,  I  believe,  accom- 
modate him.  ,  .  .  When,  at  dinner,  I  described  old 
Cole's  attempt  at  crimping  me  into  the  Doctor's 
campt  in  1803,  assisted  by  those  distinguished  states- 
men Porter  and  Brogden,  he  grinned  most  profusely, 
saying — '  God  forgive  me  !  as  Lord  King  says,  but  I 
can't  help  liking  him.'" 

"  Brooks's,  2nd  Feby. 

"...  I  have  just  discharged  my  duty  to  my  native 
town  [Liverpool]  in  seconding  their  petition.  I  rather 
think  1  never  did  anything  so  well.  I  spoke  for  about 
20  minutes ;  the  House  was  as  mute  as  mice,  and 
Castlereagh  as  grave  as  a  judge  at  all  I  said.  After 
dwelling  upon  the  villainy  of  Castlereagh's  new  law 
of  a  3rd  reading  of  a  Bill  of  Pains  and  Penalties  in 
the  Lords  making  a  moral  conviction  of  the  defendant, 
coupled  with  all  the  enormous  abuse  that  was  nightly 
discharged  upon  her  by  his  friends,  I  stated  the  utter 
impossibility  of  her  taking  the  money  from  Castle- 
reagh and  his  House.  .  .  ." 

*  The  Right  Hon.  Charles  Bragge  Bathurst,  cousin  of  Lord 
Bathurst,  Secretary  of  State  for  War  and  the  Colonies.  Bragge 
Bathurst  had  been  brought  into  the  Cabinet  as  President  of  the  Board 
of  Control  and  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster. 

t  Tierney's  attempt  to  enlist  Creevey  in  support  of  Addington. 
("See  p.  22.] 


i82i.]  BROUGHAM    FULFILS    A   PLEDGE.  353 

On  5th  February  Brougham  redeemed  his  pledge 
to  testify  publicly  on  his  honour  to  his  belief  in  the 
innocence  of  Queen  Caroline.  He  concluded  as 
follows  a  speech  on  Lord  Tavistock's  motion  of  want 
of  confidence  in  Ministers  because  of  their  conduct  of 
the  proceedings  against  the  Queen  :  "  It  is  necessary, 
Sir,  for  me,  with  the  seriousness  and  sincerity  which 
it  may  be  permitted  to  a  man  upon  the  most  solemn 
occasions  to  express,  to  assert  what  I  now  do  assert 
in  the  face  of  this  House,  that  if,  instead  of  an 
advocate,  I  had  been  sitting  as  a  judge  at  another 
tribunal,  I  should  have  been  found  among  the  number 
of  those  who,  laying  their  hands  upon  their  hearts, 
conscientiously  pronounced  her  Majesty  '  Not  Guilty.' 
For  the  truth  of  this  assertion  I  desire  to  tender 
every  pledge  that  may  be  most  valued  and  most 
sacred.  I  wish  to  make  it  in  every  form  which  may 
be  deemed  most  solemn  and  most  binding;  and  if  I 
believe  it  not  as  I  now  advance  it,  I  here  imprecate  on 
myself  every  curse  which  is  most  horrid  and  most 
penal." 

Mr.  Crcevcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Brooks's,  6th  Feb. 
".  .  .  On  Sunday  morning  our  grandees,  or  some 
of  them,  had  a  meeting  upstairs  here  to  consider  the 
practicability  of  making  a  provision  for  the  Queen  by 
raising  from  ^200,000  to  ;^30o,ooo  by  subscription. 
You  will  easily  imagine  I  had  no  business  there,* 
but  Sefton  and  Lord  Thanet  sent  Lambton  to  bring 
me  there  by  force,  so  I  heard  what  passed,  and  such 
a  game  chicken  as  Fitzwilliam  I  never  beheld.  Let 
me  do  justice,  too,  to  Alec  Baring,  who  smoothed 
away  the  least  suggestion  of  any  difficulty  ;  and,  in 
short,  it  was  decided  in  two  minutes  to  do  the  thing. 

*  Seeing  that  he  was  such  a  poor  man. 


354  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.      [Ch.  XIV. 

Old  Pltzvvilliam  went  off  directly  to  the  Duke  of 
Devonshire,  who  is  quite  as  eager  to  start  as  the  rest, 
provided  it  is  no*:  done  till  the  H.  of  Commons  shall 
have  decided  this  day  week,  on  Smith's  motion,  not 
to  restore  the  Queen's  name  to  the  Liturg3\  Then 
a  kind  of  State  paper  is  to  come  out  from  our  people, 
shewing  the  absolute  impossibility  of  the  Queen, 
situated  as  she  is,  accepting  the  provision  from  the 
Crown  and  Parliament,  and  proposing  their  plan,  with 
the  names  annexed  to  it,  of  making  a  voluntary  pro- 
vision ;  and  no  one  seems  to  entertain  a  doubt  of  the 
success  of  the  measure.  ... 

"Never  was  there  such  an  exhibition  as  that  of 
yesterday  by  the  defenders  of  the  Ministers.  Brother 
Bragge  could  scarcely  be  heard,  in  which  he  was 
highly  judicious  ;  Bankes  might  have  been  hired  for 
Mackintosh  to  flog;  Peel  was  as  feeble  as  be  damned, 
and  the  daring,  dramatic  Horace  Twiss  made  his 
first,  and  probably  his  last  appearance  on  the  stage.* 
On  the  other  hand,  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  Tavistock 
was  infinitely  below  himself.  .  .  .  Lambton's  was  a 
very  pretty,  natural  and  ornamental  speech,  delivered 
with  singular  grace  and  discretion,  and  a  beautiful 
voice  withal.  But  old  *  Praise  God  '  Milton  in  a  short 
speech  handled  a  couple  of  points  in  a  much  more 
powerful  manner  than  anything  Lambton  did.  .  .  . 
Nothing  but  the  general  and  overpowering  distress 
can  keep  the  country  steady  to  the  Queen  against  the 
Court  Ministers.  ...  It  is  said  that  the  appointment 
of  Sir  Lowry  Cole  to  be  governor  of  Sheerness  was 
made  out,  and  immediately  cancelled  after  his  vote 
on  Friday,  and  that  it  is  now  given  to  Lord  Comber- 
mere.T  .  .  • 

*  This  was  a  singularly  bad  prophecy.  Twiss,  who  entered  Par- 
liament in  1820,  made  a  fine  appearance  in  the  debate  on  Roman 
Catholic  disabilities  on  23rd  March,  1821,  and  vigorously  opposed  the 
Reform  Bill.  Lord  Campbell  describes  him  as  "  the  impersonation 
of  a  debating  society  rhetorician,"  and  adds, "  Though  inexhaustibly 
fluent,  his  manner  certainly  was  very  flippant,  factitious,  and  un- 
businesslike." Macaulay  remarks  that,  when  the  Reform  Bill  passed 
a  second  reading,  "  the  face  of  Twiss  was  as  the  face  of  a  damned 
soul." 

t  Cole  was  appointed  Governor  of  Mauritius  in  1823. 


1821.]  DINNER  WITH   THE   QUEEN.  355 

"  7th  Feb. 

"...  I  confess  I  had  no  notion  such  a  majority 
could  have  been  found  to  give  a  direct  negative  to 
the  allegation  that  the  late  proceedings  had  been 
'derogatory  from  the  dignity  of  the  Crown  and  in- 
jurious to  the  best  wishes  of  the  People.'  .  .  .  The 
last  half  of  Brougham's  speech  was  quite  inimitable. 
He  made  the  declaration  he  formerly  told  me  he 
would,  as  to  his  perfect  conviction  of  the  Queen's 
innocence,  and  he  did  it  in  a  manner  so  solemn,  and,  if 
I  may  say  so,  so  magnificent,  that  it  was  met  with 
the  loudest  and  almost  universal  cheers." 

"Feb.  nth. 

"...  I  was  at  Brougham's  by  half-past  two,  and 
found  Craven  waiting.  As  soon  as  Brougham  was 
ready,  we  set  off  to  pick  up  Mrs.  Damer,  who  was  to 
dine  also  with  the  Queen.  And  here  let  me  stop  to 
express  my  admiration  for  this  extraordinary  person. 
You  know  she  is  Field  Marshal  Conway's  daughter, 
cousin  of  Lord  Hertford,  &:c.,  &c.  She  is  the  person 
v/ho  paid  all  her  husband's  debts,  without  the  least 
obligation  upon  her  so  to  do,  and  she  is  the  person 
who  renounced  all  claim  to  half  of  Lord  Clinton's 
estate  when  she  was  informed  that  by  law  she  was 
entitled  to  it.  She  is  70  years  of  age,  and  as  fresh  as 
if  she  was  50.  .  .  .  Well — when  we  reached  Branden- 
burg House,  we  were  ushered  up  a  very  indifferent 
staircase  and  through  an  ante-room  into  a  very  hand- 
some, well-proportioned  room  from  40  to  50  feet 
long,  very  lofty,  with  a  fine  coved  ceiling,  painted 
with  gods  and  goddesses  in  their  very  best  clothes. 
The  room  looks  upon  the  Thames,  and  is  not  a 
hundred  yards  from  it.  Upon  our  entrance,  the  Queen 
came  directly  to  Mrs.  Damer,  then  to  Brougham,  and 
then  to  me.  1  am  not  sure  whether  I  did  not  commit 
the  outrage  of  putting  out  my  hand  without  her  doing 
the  same  first ;  be  it  as  it  may,  however,  we  did  shake 
hands.  She  then  asked  mc  if  I  had  not  forgotten  her, 
and  I  can't  help  thinking  she  considered  my  visit  as 
somewhat  late,  or  otherwise  she  would  have  said 
something  civil  about  my  uniform   support.     She  is 


356  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIV. 

not  much  altered  in  face  or  figure,  but  very  much  in 
manner.  She  is  much  more  stately  and  much  more 
agreeable.  She  was  occasionally  very  grave.  .  .  . 
She  took  me  aside  twice  after  dinner,  and  talked  to 
me  of  her  situation.  She  is  evidently  uneasy  about 
money.  .  .  .  She  mentioned  no  women,  but  the  Duke 
of  Wellington  did  not  escape  an  observation  from 
her,  as  to  the  surprise  it  occasioned  in  her  that  he 
should  be  so  violent  against  her.  ...  A  curious  thing 
happened  at  dinner.  .  .  .  Craven,  who  turns  out  to 
be  a  wag,  with  all  his  propriety,  was  alluding  to  that 
celebrated  ball  or  fete  where  the  Queen  was  the 
Genius  of  History.  It  seems  the  whole  of  this  fete 
was  got  up  by  a  Duke  of  Caparo ;  every -character 
was  prescribed  by  him,  and  both  the  Queen  and 
Craven  laughed  heartily  at  the  recollection  that,  the 
Genius  of  History  being  to  enter  preceded  by  Fame, 
when  the  time  for  their  appearance  arrived.  Fame's 
trumpet  could  not  be  found,  and  the  performance  was 
stopped  for  some  time,  till  Fame  was  obliged  to  put 
up  with  a  horn  of  one  of  the  Duke  of  Caparo's 
keepers.  .  .  . 

"  Our  company  of  ladies  was  Mme.  Olde  and 
Mme.  Felice.  .  .  .  Mme.  Felice  is  a  very,  very  little 
woman,  with  one  of  the  prettiest  faces  I  ever  saw.  I 
should  think  she  was  not  much  older  than  20,  though 
she  has  been  married  5  years.  As  we  went  down  to 
dinner.  Craven  handed  the  Queen,  Brougham  Mrs. 
Damer;  Mme.  Felice,  who  was  leaning  on  the  arm  of 
a  foreigner,  seeing  me  unprovided  for  came  in  the 
most  natural,  laughing  manner,  and  put  her  arm 
thro'  mine.  ...  Of  men,  the  principal  was  the 
Marquis  of  Antalda,  a  great  proprietor  in  Pessaro 
and  Bologna  ...  a  person  of  great  consideration  in 
his  own  country,  a  man  of  letters,  and  as  agreeable  a 
man  as  you  will  find  anywhere.  .  .  .  There  might  be 
six  or  seven  other  men,  and  nothing  could  be  more 
decorous  or  more  courtlike  than  they  all  were  in 
their  manner  to  the  Queen.  .  .  .  We  came  away 
before  eight.  .  .  .  There  is  a  capital  picture  by 
Hoppner  of  Berkeley  and  Keppel  Craven.  The  only 
picture  belonging  to  her  Majesty  is  one  of  Alderman 
Wood  without  a  frame." 


lS2i.]  LORD    HOLLAND'S   ArOLOGV.  357 

"Brooks's,  14th  Feb. 

".  .  .  Our  folks  are  to  meet  presently  about  the 
Queen's  subscription.  Unfortunately  Fitzvvilliam  is 
out  of  town,  but  Milton  is  now  by  my  side." 

"  4  o'clock. 
"The  meeting  is  over:  very  thinly  attended,  and 
things  looking  damned  ill  and  black," 

"Brooks's,  16  Feb. 

*'.  .  .  You  never  saw  such  a  change  in  any  person 
as  in  Brougham.  He  is  involved  in  the  deepest 
thought,  and  apparently  chagrin.  He  never  comes 
near  Sefton,  as  was  his  daily  custom,  nor  can  we  con- 
jecture what  he  is  about  I  think  his  false  step  about 
the  Queen  in  advising  her  to  refuse  the  money  must 
surely  have  something  to  do  with  it.  He  seems  most 
wretched.  Grey  and  Lambton  and  Lady  Louisa,  8zc., 
&c.,  are  to  dine  with  the  Queen  to-morrow.  .  .  ." 

"  24th  Feb. 

".  .  .  The  Queen  has  bought  Cambridge  House 
in  vSouth  Audley  Street.  .  .  .  Thanet  and  Sefton 
advanced  the  deposit  money,  ^[^3000,  this  morning.  I 
am  afraid  you  don't  see  the  Times,  otherwise  you 
would  read  in  it  Holland's  apology  for  having  said  in 
his  speech  in  the  House  of  Lords  that  the  Emperor  of 
Russia  was  concern'd  in  his  father's  death.  Lad}' 
Holland  has  never  slept  since ;  Madame  Lieven 
declines  all  further  intercourse  with  the  Hollands, 
and,  in  short,  the  contemptible  statement  in  the 
Times,  tho'  anonymous,  is  from  Holland  himself,  and 
made  as  his  peace  offering  to  the  Emperor  of  all  the 
Russias,*  the  Elevens  and  the  Princess  of  Mada- 
gascar."! 

*  The  use  of  this  clumsy  paraphrase  of  the  Czar's  title  is,  of  course, 
very  common  in  British  parlance,  but  is  none  the  less  a  barbarism. 
The  meaning  of  the  term  in  Russian  is  "  the  all-Russian  Emperor," 
in  the  same  sense  that  one  uses  the  terms  "  I'an-Germanic,"  "  Pan- 
Anglican,"  &c. 

t  In  Lady  Caroline  Lamb's  novel  Glenarvon,  Lady  Holland  was 
presented  as  the  "  Princess  of  Madagascar." 


358  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.      [Ch.  XIV. 

Henry  Brougham,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Crcevey. 

"London,  19  July,  1821. 

•'Dear  C, 

"This  town  is  in  a  state  of  general  lunacy 
beginning  most  certainly  with  the  Illustrious  Person 
on  the  throne.  Geo.  3.  was  an  ill  used  man  to  be  shut 
up  for  10  3^ears.  His  son  has  slept  none,  I  believe, 
since  you  left  town  ;  nor  will,  till  it  is  over.  Yesterday 
he  went  for  near  3  hours  to  Buckingham  House, 
where  Lawrence  was  painting  Lady  Conynghame. 
He  then  came  back  and  had  another  row  with  his 
ministers,  having  been  all  Saturday  and  half  of  Sunday 
in  a  squabble  with  them ;  and,  soon  after  he  was 
housed,  there  drove  along  the  Mall  furiously  a  carriage 
and  four,  which  was  followed  by  my  informant  and 
found  to  contain  old  Wellesley  in  person.  He  was 
actually  traced  into  Carlton  House  by  the  back  door. 
You  may  make  what  you  please  of  this,*  but  the  fact 
is  undoubted,  as  Duncannon  and  Calcraft  were  the 
persons  who  saw  him. 

"To-day  the  Q.'s  being  allowed  to  enter  the  Abbey 
is  doubted  .  .  .  but  I  still  think  it  possible  the  Big 
Man  may  have  gout  and  not  be  up  to  it.f 

"  Yours, 
"H.  B." 

"  20th  July. 

". . .  The  paroxysm  rather  encreases  than  diminishes, 
and  literally  extends  to  all  classes.  There  never  was 
a  more  humbling  sight  in  this  world.  The  Ministers 
are  still  sitting  and  squabbling;  nor  have  they  to  this 
hour  (5)  made  up  their  minds  whether  to  stop  her  or 
not.  My  belief  is  they  will  let  her  pass,  and  also 
admit  her  at  the  Abbey  if  she  persists.  She  is  quite 
resolved  to  do  so,  and  comes  to  sleep  at  Cambridge 
House  for  the  purpose.  But  she  is  sure  to  blunder 
about  the  hour,  and  to  give  them  excuses  for  turning 

*  The  inference  was  that  the  Cabinet  was  jibbing  about  the 
Queen's  exclusion,  and  that  the  King  contemplated  laying  his 
commands  on  Wellesley  to  form  an  administration. 

t  The  Coronation. 


iS2i.]     THE  QUEEN   EXCLUDED  FROM  THE  ABBEY.  359 

her  back  by  being  late.  .  .  .  We  [Brougham  and  Den- 
man]  thought  at  one  time  she  meant  to  command 
our  attendance,  which  we  had  resolved,  of  course,  to 
refuse,  as  no  more  in  our  department  than  going  to 
Astley's  ;  but  she  did  not  venture.  She  has  turned 
off  the  poor  Chaplain  Fellowes,  who  wrote  all  the 
balderdash  answers,  to  make  room  for  Wood's  son ; 
but  the  Alderman  has  failed  in  an  attempt  to  turn  off 
Hieronymus,  the  Major-domo,  in  order  to  put  some 
friend  of  his  in  the  place.  Dr.  Parr  has  written  a 
vehement  letter  to  advise  against  her  going,  and 
certainly  this  is  the  prevailing  opinion  among  her 
friends.  I  suppose  I  must  be  wrong,  but  I  still  can- 
not see  it  in  the  same  light ;  and  of  this  I  am  quite 
sure,  that  she  would  have  been  quite  as  much  blamed 
had  she  stayed  away.  It  is  also  certain  that  nothing 
short  of  a  quarrel  and  resigning  would  have  stopped 
her:  perhaps  not  even  that;  .  .  .  but  to  take  such  a 
step,  one  ought  to  have  been  much  more  positive 
against  the  measure  than  I  have  ever  been  from  the 
first." 

"  Thursday. 

"Dear  C, 

"The  Qn.  (as  I  found  on  going  to  her  house 
at  20  minutes  before  six  this  morning)  started  at  a 
quarter  past  five,  and  drove  down  Constitution  Hill 
in  the  mulberry — Lady  A[nne]  H[amilton]  and  Lad}'' 
Hood  sitting  opposite.  Hesse  (in  uniform)  and  Lord 
H[ood]  in  another  carriage  went  before.  I  followed 
on  foot  and  found  she  had  swept  the  crowd  after  her : 
it  Vv'as  very  great,  even  at  that  hour.  She  passed  thro' 
Storey's  Gate,  and  then  round  Dean's  Yard,  where  she 
was  separated  from  the  crowd  by  the  gates  being 
closed.  The  refusal  was  peremptory  at  all  the  doors 
of  the  Abbey  when  she  tried,  and  one  was  banged  in 
her  face.  .  .  .  She  was  saluted  by  all  the  soldiery,  and 
even  the  people  in  the  seats,  who  had  paid  10  and  5 
guineas  down,  and  might  be  expected  to  hiss  most 
at  the  untimely  interruption,  hissed  very  little  and 
applauded  loudly  in  most  places.  In  some  they  were 
silent,  but  the  applause  and  waving  handkerchiefs 
prevailed.  I  speak  from  hearsay  of  various  persons 
of  different   parties,    having    been   obliged   to    leave 

2  c 


36o  THE   CREEVEY   TAPERS.  [Ch.  XIV. 

it  speedily,  being  recognised  and  threatened  with 
honors. 

"About  i  past  six  [a.m.]  she  had  finished  her 
walks  and  calls  at  the  doors,  and  got  into  the  carriage 
to  return.  She  came  by  Whitehall,  Pall  Mall  and 
Piccadilly.  The  crowd  in  the  Broad  Street  of  White- 
hall was  immense  (the  barriers  being  across  Park.  St. 
and  King  St.).  All,  or  nearly  all  followed  her  and 
risked  losing  their  places.  They  crammed  Cockspur 
Street  and  Pall  Mall,  &c.,  hooting  and  cursing  the 
King  and  his  friends,  and  huzzaing  her.  A  vast  multi- 
tude followed  her  home,  and  then  broke  windows. 
But  they  soon  (in  two  or  three  hours)  dispersed  or 
went  back. 

"  I  had  just  got  home  and  she  sent  for  me,  so  I 
went  and  breakfasted  with  her,  and  am  now  going  to 
dine,  which  makes  me  break  off;  but  I  must  add  that 
the  King  was  not  well  received  at  all — silence  in  many 
places,  and  a  mixture  of  hisses  and  groans  in  others. 
However,  there  were  some  bounds  kept  with  him. 
For  Wood  and  Waithman — a  division  of  hissing  and 
shouting — for  the  Atty.  and  Solr.  Gen.  an  unmixed 
hissing  of  the  loudest  kind.  This  verdict  is  really  of 
some  moment,  when  you  consider  that  the  jury  was 
very  much  a  special,  if  not  a  packed,  one.  The  general 
feeling,  even  of  her  own  partisans,  was  very  much 
agt.  her  going;  but  far  more  agt.  their  behaviour  to 
her.  I  still  can't  see  it  in  that  light ;  and  as  she  will 
go  quietly  back  to  B[randenburg]  House,*  avoiding 
all  mob  most  carefully,  she  gains  more  than  she  loses, 
and  I  think  her  very  lucky  in  being  excluded.  They 
put  it  on  not  being  at  liberty  to  recognise  her  or  any 
one,  except  as  ticket-bearers.  Lord  H[ood]  shewed 
me  one  which  they  said  of  course  would  pass  any  one 
of  the  party,  but  she  refused  to  go  in  except  as  Q. 
and  without  a  ticket.  The  one  Lord  H.  shewed  me 
was  the  Beau's,t  and  I  have  it  as  a  memorial  of  the 
business.  .  .  ." 

Brougham  now  made  plans   to    rouse   the   North 

in   the  Queen's   favour,  though   he  appears   to  have 

*  She  had  come  to  Cambridge  House  for  the  Coronation, 
t  The  Duke  of  Wellington's. 


i82i.]  THE   NORTH    TO    BE   ROUSED.  361 

opposed  Her  Majesty  going  there  in  person.  His 
plans,  here  characteristically  sketched  in  a  letter  to 
Creevey,  were  never  carried  into  effect,  death  inter- 
vening mercifully  to  remove  Queen  Caroline  from 
the  troubled  scene — the  scene  which  her  continued 
presence  could  only  have  rendered  still  more  troubled. 
The  appalling  severity  of  the  remedies  administered 
can  scarcely  have  failed  to  accelerate  her  release. 

Henry  Brougham,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey  {at  Cantley*). 

"  26th  July. 

''DearC, 

"  The  Queen  certainly  goes  to  Scotland.  .  .  . 
I  should  not  wonder  if  she  were  to  go  thro'  the 
manufacturing  districts.  Possibly  Birmingham  (where 
the  K.  refused  to  go)  may  be  in  her  way.  It  is  on 
the  cards  that  she  should  be  found  in  the  W.  Riding 
and  in  Lancashire.  For  aught  I  know  H.  M.  may  then 
pass  across  towards  Durham  and  Newcastle.  Indeed 
the  great  towns  are  peculiarly  interesting  to  a  person 
of  her  contemplative  cast.  One  whose  mind  is  im- 
proved by  foreign  travel  naturally  loves  tracts  of 
country  where  the  population  is  much  crowded,  and 
it  is  worthy  of  H.  M.'s  enlightened  mind  to  patronise 
the  ingenuous  artizan.  The  coal  trade,  too,  is  highly 
interesting.  I  only  hope  she  may  not  call  at  Howick 
on  her  way.  .  .  .  The  time  of  her  setting  out  is  not 
fixed,  depending  naturally  upon  her  beloved  husband's 
motions.  .  .  .  The  Chamberlain's  place  is  not  yet  given 
away.  The  Ministers  are  believed  to  have  resolved 
to  bear  this  no  longer,  and  to  have  agreed  on  a  remon- 
strance to  the  K.  about  the  Green  Ribbons.f  He  will, 
of  course,  say  something  civil  that  means  little — make 
some  promise  that  means  less — let  them  name  to  one 
place,  name  to  the  other  himself— and  so  settle  matters 
as  to  enable  him  to  go  over  to  Ireland.  .  .  .  The  Queen 

*  Michael  Angelo  Taylor's  place  in  Yorkshire, 
t  The   King  had  been  creating   Knights  of  the    Thistle  without 
taking  the  advice  of  his  Ministers. 


362  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.      [Ch.  XIV. 

has  lost  incalculably  by  getting  out  of  her  carriage 
and  tramping  about;  going  and  being  refused,  and 
damaging  the  Coronation,  was  all  very  well,  but  the 
7vay  of  doing  it  was  very  bad.  .  .  ." 

"  28th  July. 
"  The  Chamberlain  not  yet  given  ?vvay,  and  there 
seems  an  idea  of  Wellesley.  I  heartily  wish  the 
present  state  of  squabble  between  the  K.  and  his 
Ministers  was  over,  and  he  and  Ly.  C[onyngham]  no 
longer  civil  to  the  Whigs.  There  is  no  chance  ot  its 
bringing  about  any  change,  but  the  risk  is  frightful— 
I  mean  of  any  change  operated  by  such  means.  His 
dining  with  the  Beau*  to-morrow,  and  the  whole 
Ministers  dining  with  him  [the  King]  to-day,  looks 
like  matters  being  settled  between  them.  At  the 
Levee  yesterday  he  was  particularly  rude  to  Hesse; 
so  was  he  to  the  Lord  Mayor  at  the  Coronation.  .  .  . 
1  have  not  seen  her  [the  Queen],  but  I  shall  to-night, 
and  certainly  shall  throw  cold  water  on  the  northern 
expedition.  ... 

^  "H.  B." 


Viscount  Hood  (Lord  Chamberlain  to  Queen 
Caroline)  to  Henry  Brougham,  M.P. 

"21  July,  1821,  Brandenburgh  House. 

"  My  dear  Sir, 

".  .  .  Her  Majesty  has  commanded  me  to  say 
she  intends  visiting  Scotland,  but  I  have  not  as  yet 
heard  the  time  fixed.  .  .  ." 


Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Cantley,  Aug.  8. 

".  .  .  Brougham  was  here  for  a  very  short  time  on 
Sunday  night,  having  left  London  at  six  on  Saturday 
evening,  travelled  all  night,  and  being  obliged  to  go 
to  York  that  night  (40  miles),  so  as  to  be  ready  for 
the   assizes   in   the   morning.  ...  As   to    his    Royal 

*  The  Duke  of  Wellington. 


i82i.]  THE   QUEEN'S   DEATH.  363 

Mistress,  his  account  was  most  curious.  On  Friday 
last  she  lost  sixty-four  ounces  of  blood;  took  first  of 
all  15  grains  of  calomel,  which  they  think  she  threw 
up  again  in  the  whole  or  in  part ;  and  then  she  took 
40  grains  more  of  calomel  which  she  kept  entirely  in 
her  stomach  ;  add  to  this  a  quantity  of  castor  oil  that 
would  have  turned  the  stomach  of  a  horse.  Never- 
theless, on  FViday  night  the  inflammation  had  subsided, 
tho'  not  the  obstruction  on  the  liver. 

"  Her  will  and  certain  deeds  had  been  got  all  ready 
by  Friday  night  according  to  her  own  instructions. 
Brougham  asked  her  if  it  was  her  pleasure  then  to 
execute  them ;  to  which  she  said — *  Yes,  Mr.  Brougham  ; 
where  is  Mr.  Denman  ? '  in  the  tone  of  voice  of  a  person 
in  perfect  health.  Denman  then  opened  the  curtain  of 
her  bed,  there  being  likewise  Lushington,  Wilde  and 
two  Proctors  from  the  Commons.  The  will  and  papers 
being  read  to  her,  she  put  her  hand  out  of  bed,  and 
signed  her  name  four  different  times  in  the  steadiest 
manner  possible.  In  doing  so  she  said  with  great 
firmness — 'I  am  going  to  die,  Mr.  Brougham;  but  it 
does  not  signify.' — Brougham  said — '  Your  Majesty's 
physicians  are  quite  of  a  different  opinion.' — 'Ah,'  she 
said,  '  I  know  better  than  them.  I  tell  you  I  shall  die, 
but  I  don't  mind  it.'  .  .  ," 


Viscount  Hood  to  Henry  Brougham,  M.P. 

"  Brandcnburgh  House,  8th  Aug.,  182 1. 

".  .  .  The  melancholy  event  took  place  at  25 
minutes  past  10  o'clock  last  night,  when  our  dear 
Queen  breathed  her  last.  Her  Majesty  has  quitted  a 
scene  of  uninterrupted  persecution,  and  for  herself  I 
think  her  death  is  not  to  be  regretted.  .  .  .  She  died 
in  peace  with  all  her  enemies.  Jr  uc  mourrai  snns 
doulcur,  iuais  je  mourrai  sans  regret — was  frequently 
expressed  by  her  Majesty.  I  never  beheld  a  firmer 
mind,  or  any  one  with  less  feelings  at  the  thought  of 
dying,  which  she  spoke  of  without  the  least  agitation, 
and  at  different  periods  of  her  illness,  even  to  very 
few  hours  of  her  dissolution,  arranged  her  worldly 
concerns.  .  .  ." 


364  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIV. 

Mr.  Wilde  to  Henry  Brougham,  M.P. 

"  Guildford,  8th  Aug.,  1821. 

".  .  .  Lushington  and  myself  this  morning  saw 
Lord  Liverpool  and  gave  copies  of  the  will  and  codicils. 
Government  take  charge  of  the  funeral,  which  they 
intend  shall  be  a  private  one.  Lord  Liverpool  referred 
me  to  Lord  Melville,  who  we  saw,  and  he  will  im- 
mediately order  a  squadron,  which  will  be  ready  in  a 
week.  The  body  is  to  be  embarked  at  Harwich  and 
landed  at  Cuxhaven.  .  ,  .  Lushington  is  married  this 
morning;  and  has  left  London,  to  return  on  Friday.  .  .  ." 

Dr.  Lushington  to  Henry  Brotighant,  M.P. 

"  Carlton,  near  Newmarket,  9  Aug.,  1821, 

"My  dear  B., 

"...  I  arrived  just  before  4  on  Tuesday,  and 
the  Queen  immediately  desired  to  see  me.  .  .  .  Baillie 
soon  after  assured  me  she  was  dying,  but  that  the 
event  would  not  take  place  for  some  hours.  I  went 
away  for  a  short  time,  and  then  remained  in  the  room 
till  death  closed  the  scene.  .  .  .  On  her  death  happen- 
ing, Wilde  and  myself  secured  all  the  repositories  as 
well  as  we  could.  This  occupied  us  till  between  2  and 
3  in  the  morning.  .  .  .  My  situation  was  truly  painful. 
You  know  I  was  to  be  married  that  very  morning — 
Wednesday.  I  could  not,  for  various  reasons,  post- 
pone it ;  so,  having  taken  2  hours  rest,  I  went  to 
Hampstead,  was  married,  and  immediately  returned 
to  town.  I  had,  on  the  death  taking  place,  sent  an 
express  to  Lord  Liverpool,  He  came  to  town.  I  saw 
him  with  Wilde.  He  behaved  extremely  well — said 
Government  would  defray  the  expense  of  the  funeral, 
and  that  he  issued  orders  from  the  Chamberlain's 
office.  He  readily  assented  that  the  body  should  not 
be  opened,  and  that  the  funeral  should  take  place  at 
Brunswick.  By  his  desire  I  went  over  to  Lord 
Melville,  and  he  arranged  that  two  frigates  should 
be  sent  to  Harwich  and  convey  it  to  Cuxhaven.  t  .  ." 


i83i.]  SUSPICIONS   ABOUT   BROUGHAM.  365 

Mr,  Crccvey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Cantley,  Aug.  11. 
",  .  .  The  death  of  this  poor  woman  under  all  its 
circumstances  is  a  most  striking  event  and  gave  me  an 
infernal  lump  in  my  ihroat  most  part  of  Thursday.  .  .  . 
Nothing  in  my  mind  could  be  so  calculated  to  injure 
this  poor  woman  as  the  extraordinary  overture  made 
by  Brougham  to  the  Government  in  18 19.  It  seems 
that,  at  his  request  or  by  his  direction,  the  Queen 
came  from  Italy  to  Lyons  in  the  autumn  of  that 
year  for  the  sole  purpose  of  meeting  Brougham  there, 
to  consult  with  him^  upon  her  situation  ;  but,  forsooth, 
'  he  could  not  go — he  was  busy.'  This  is  all  the  excuse 
he  makes  for  himself,  and  then  he  seems  to  think  it 
odd  she  was  very  angry  at  this  disappointment.  He 
admits,  likewise,  that  on  this  occasion  she  became 
very  ill.  So  he  was  to  have  gone  to  her  at  Milan  in 
the  Easter  of  1820,  as  you  know  he  told  me,  when 
he  asked  me  to  go  with  him.  .  .  .  But  he  never 
mentioned  having  so  lately  brought  the  poor  woman 
to  Lyons  for  nothing.  When  I  recall  to  mind  how 
often,  during  our  journey  to  Middleton  at  that  time,* 
he  spoke  of  the  Whig  candidates  for  office  with  the 
most  sovereign  contempt — how  he  hinted  at  his  own 
intercourse  with  the  Crown  and  Ministers,  and  con- 
veyed to  me  the  impression  that  he  thought  himself 
more  likely  to  be  sent  for  to  make  a  Ministry  than 
any  one  else — how  clear  it  is  that  the  accomplishment 
of  this  divorce  was  to  be  the  ways  and  means  by 
which  his  purposes  were  to  be  effected.!  •  .  .  There 

*  See  p.  295. 

t  Mr.  Crcevey  was  not  singular  in  his  suspicion  of  Brougham. 
Writing  on  12th  April,  182 1,  J.  W.  Croker  observes  :  "  Brougham,  it  is 
sa.\d,  ^ross/y  has  sold  the  Queen.  There  is  no  doubt  that  he  has  with- 
drawn himself  a  good  deal  from  her,  and  I  believe  has  been  for  some  time 
in  underground  communication  with  Carlton  House."  Again  on  April 
22nd  :  "  Brougham  and  Denman  sworn  in  the  day  before  yesterday 
as  Attorney-  and  Solicitor-General  to  the  Queen.  Brougham,  I  hear, 
wished  to  secure  the  profits  without  the  inconveniences  of  the  appoint- 
ment, and  offered  not  to  assume  it  if  Government  would  give  him  a 
patent  of  precedence,  but  the  Chancellor  refused  "  [  T/ie  Croker  Papers, 
i.  172-3]. 


366  .  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIV. 

is  one  subject  which  gives  me  some  uneasiness — in 
the  making  of  her  will,  the  Queen  wished  to  leave 
some  diamonds  to  Victorine,  the  child  of  Bergami,  of 
whom  she  was  so  fond.  This  was  not  liked  by 
Brougham  and  her  other  lawyers,  so  the  bequest 
does  not  appear  in  the  will ;  but  the  jewels  are  never- 
theless to  be  conveyed  to  Victorine.  This,  you  know, 
is  most  delicate  matter — to  be  employed  on  her  death- 
bed in  sending  her  jewels  from  Lady  Anne  Hamilton 
and  Lady  Hood  to  Bergami's  child  appears  to  me 
truly  alarming.  I  mean,  should  it  be  known,  and  one 
is  sure  it  will  be  so,  for  Taylor  had  a  letter  from 
Denison  last  night  mentioning  such  a  report,  and 
being  quite  horrified  at  it.  On  the  other  hand,  when 
I  expressed  the  same  sentiment  to  Brougham,  he 
thought  nothing  of  it.  His  creed  is  that  she  was  a 
child-fancier :  that  Bergami's  elevation  was  all  owing 
to  her  attachment  to  Victorine,  and  he  says  his  con- 
viction is  strengthened  every  day  of  her  entire  inno- 
cence as  to  Bergami.  This,  from  Brougham,  is  a 
great  deal,  because  I  think  it  is  not  going  too  far  to 
say  that  he  absolutely  hated  her ;  nor  do  I  think  her 
love  for  her  Attorney  General  was  very  great." 


Henry  Brougham,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Crccvey. 

"Aug.  14,  1821. 

"Dear  C, 

"  I  have  seen  Lushington  and  Wilde  re- 
peatedly. They  are  at  this  moment  in  negociation 
with  the  Govt. ;  or  rather  throwing  up  all  concern 
with  the  funeral  on  account  of  this  indecent  hurry. 
Their  ground  is  a  clear  one :  they  won't  take  charge 
of  it  from  Stade— the  port  in  Hanover — to  Brunswick 
without  knowing  that  arrangements  are  ready  to 
receive  them.  .  .  .  The  Govt.,  only  wishing  the  speedy 
embarkation,  as  they  avow,  for  the  sake  of  not  delaying 
the  dinner  at  Dublin,  insist  on  getting  it  on  board  as 
quick  as  possible,  and  don't  mind  what  happens  after- 
wards. ...  I  shall,  I  think,  be  satisfied  with  going  to 
Harwich  with  it,  and  not  go,  as  I  had  intended,  to 
Brunswick." 


i82i.]  AN    HONOURABLE    EXECUTOR.  367 


Mr.  Crcevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Cantley,  Aug.  i8th. 

".  .  .  Here  is  Brougham  again.  He  has  been  at 
Harwich,  where  he  saw  the  body  of  the  Queen 
embarked  about  3  o'clock  on  Thursday;  and  then 
immediately  came  across  the  country,  and,  after 
travelling  all  night,  got  here  to  dinner  yesterday,  and 
proceeds  to  Durham  to-night  to  join  the  circuit  there. 
I  wish  very  much  I  had  been  at  Harwich  :  according 
to  Brougham's  account  it  must  have  been  the  most 
touching  spectacle  that  can  be  imagined — the  day 
magnificently  beautiful — the  sea  as  smooth  as  glass  — 
our  officers  by  land  and  sea  all  full  dressed — soldiers 
and  sailors  all  behaving  themselves  with  the  most 
touching  solemnity — the  yards  of  the  four  ships  of 
war  all  manned — the  Royal  Standard  drooping  over 
the  coffin  and  the  Queen's  attendants  in  the  centre  boat 
— every  officer  with  his  hat  off  the  whole  time — minute 
guns  firing  from  the  ships  and  shore,  and  thousands 
of  people  on  the  beach  sobbing  out  aloud.  ...  It  was 
as  It  should  be — and  the  only  thing  that  was  so  during 
the  six  and  twenty  years'  connection  of  this  unhappy 
woman  with  this  country.  .  .  .  The  Queen  appointed 
as  executors  of  her  will  Bagot,*  the  Minister  of  this 
country  to  America,  and  Lord  Clarendon,  and  she  left 
them  all  her  papers  sealed  up.  The  other  day  Lord 
jersey  received  a  letter  from  Lord  Clarendon  begging 
him  to  come  to  him,  which  he  did.  He  [Lord  Claren- 
don] then  told  him  that  he  was  going  as  executor  to 
open  his  [Lord  Jersey's]  mother's  papers.t  The  seal 
was  then  taken  off,  and  letters  from  the  Monarch  to 
his  former  sweetheart  caught  Jersey's  eye  in  great 
abundance.  Lord  Clarendon  then  proceeded  to  put 
them  all  in  the  fire,  saying  he  had  merely  wished  Lord 
fersey  to  be  present  at  their  destruction,  and  as  a 
witness  that  they  had  never  been  seen  by  any  one. 
Very  genteel,  this,  on   Lord  Clarendon's  part  to  the 

*  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  Charles  Bagot. 

t  Frances,  wife  of  the  4th  Earl  of  Jersey.  Her  relations  with  the 
Prince  of  Wales  (afterwards  George  IV.)  were  notorious.  She  died 
25th  July,  1 82 1. 


368  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIV. 

living  Monarch  and  memory  of  his  mistress,  but 
damned  provoking  to  think  that  such  capital  materials 
for  the  instruction  and  improvement  of  men  and 
womankind  should  be  eternally  lost !  Let  me  add  to 
the  honor  of  Jersey,  and  indeed  of  his  wife  (for  it  was 
her  money,  not  his),  that  he  had  raised  his  mother's 
jointure  from  ;^iioo  per  ann.  to  ;^35oo,  and  that  he  has 
paid  at  different  times  ;^6ooo  and  ^^2000  in  discharge 
of  her  debts.  ... 

"And  now  what  do  you  think  Brougham  said  to 
me  not  an  hour  ago?— that  if  he  had  gone  with  the 
Queen's  body  to  Brunswick,  it  would  have  been  going 
too  far— it  would  have  been  over-acting  his  part ;  '  it 
being  very  well  knozvn  that  through  the  whole  of  this^ 
business  he  had  never  been  very  much  for  the  Queen  ! ' 
Now  upon  my  soul,  this  is  quite  true,  and,  being  so, 
did  you  ever  know  anything  at  all  to  equal  it? 

"  Brougham  showed  me  a  letter  he  has  received 
from  Pauline,*  from  Italy,  requiring  his  influence  with 
the  Government  to  obtain  permission  for  her  to  go 
out  to  St.  Helena  to  her  brother  Bonaparte.  It 
encloses  a  variety  of  medical  and  other  reports,  stating 
his  rapidly  declining  health,  and  that  she  wishes  to 
go  out  to  him  with  all  possible  dispatch.  Apropos 
to  this  subject,  Brougham  and  Lord  Roslyn  called  on 
Wilson  t  one  day  this  week,  and  found  Bertrand  and 
Montholon  with  him.  .  .  .  There  are  two  fellows  in 
London  from  Talleyrand  to  negociate  Bonaparte's 
Memoires  from  them.  This  is  believed  to  be  their 
object,  and  Lady  Holland  writes  from  Paris  that 
Talleyrand  is  cursedly  alarmed  about  these  said 
memoiresy 

"Cantley,  27th  August,  1821. 
".  .  .  Lauderdale  (who  is  here)  tells  me  that  when 
the  Ministers  have  any  papers  for  the  King  to  sign, 
they  write  a  letter  to  Bloomfield  begging  him  to  get 
the  King's  signature,  and  Bloomfield  again  has  to 
solicit  Du  Paquier,  the  King's  valet,  to  seize  a  favor- 
able opportunity  ...  but  that,  after  all,  the  operation 
is  the  most  difficult  possible  to  get  accomplished. 

*  Napoleon's  second  sister,  the  Princess  Borghese. 
t  Sir  Robert  Wilson. 


i82i.]  LORD   LAUDERDALE.  369 

"The  different  opinions  Lauderdale  and  I  have  of 
late  entertained  makes  no  difference  in  his  manner  to 
me.  There  is  not  an  atom  of  anything  artificial  in 
him,  and  he  sat  down  to  dinner  yesterday  with  us  four 
in  his  green  ribbon,  just  as  he  did  with  us  at  Brussells. 
Apropos  to  his  green  ribbon  :  he  told  us  that  the  day 
the  King  gave  it  him,  and  almost  immediately  after,  he 
attended  an  appointment  he  had  with  Lord  Bathurst 
...  so  he  took  that  opportunity  of  saying : — '  His 
Majesty,  my  lord,  has  just  forced  upon  me  the  Knight- 
hood of  the  Thistle.'—'  How?'  replied  Lord  Bathurst 
with  the  greatest  surprise,  'who  has  made  the  vacancy?' 
— '  I  don't  know  anything  about  that,'  says  Lauderdale, 
'  but  all  I  do  know  is  that  the  King  has  just  m^defour 
of  us ! '  .  .  .  Then  again,  Lauderdale  says  when  the 
King  knighted  these  four  so  unexpectedly  to  them 
all,  Melville,  who  was  one,  said  : — '  Has  your  Majesty 
mentioned  it  to  Lord  Liverpool?' — 'Not  a  word  of  it, 
my  good  lord,'  says  old  Prinney,  *  it  is  not  the  least 
necessary,  I  assure  you.' — To  you  and  me,  this  was 
very  pretty  humor,  1  think,  and  if  Prinney  never  did 
anything  worse,  I,  for  one,  would  most  willingly 
forgive  him.*  .  .  , 

"  Now  for  another  of  Lauderdale's  stories.  You 
know  his  connection  with  the  Duke  of  York  and  all 
about  him.  He  was  executor,  it  seems,  to  the  Duchess ; 
so,  before  the  poor  woman  was  buried,  the  Minister 
from  the  Elector  of  Hesse  requested  an  audience  of 
Lauderdale,  the  object  of  which  was  to  say  that,  as  the 
Duke  no  doubt  would  marry  again,  he  had  thought  it 
his  duty  to  mention  that  the  Elector,  his  master,  had 
a  daughter  whom  he  thought  well  qualified  to  be  the 
Duke's  second  wife,  and,  well-knowing  Lauderdale's 
great  influence  with  the  Duke,  he  had  judged  it  right 
to  make  this  early  application  to  him.  About  a  week 
after  the  Duchess's  funeral,  Lauderdale  mentioned  this 
to  the  Duke,  who  immediately  said  : — 'This  is  the.sYr6>;/fi^ 
application  to  me,  for  the  King  has  communicated  to 
me  his  wishes  that  I  should  marry  again  ;  but  my  mind 

*  It  was,  of  course,  contrary  to  constitutional  custom ;  because, 
albeit  the  Sovereign  is  the  Fountain  of  Honour,  Ministers  are  the 
recognised  channels  through  which  such  honours  flow ;  and  such 
channels  do  not  usually  serve  to  irrigate  the  Opposition; 


370  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.      [Ch.  XIV. 

is  quite  made  up  to  do  no  such  thing,  and  so  1  have 
given  the  King  to  understand.' 

"Not  so,  however,  our  dear  Prinney.  His  mind 
is  clearly  made  up,  according  to  Lauderdale,  to  have 
another  wife,  and  all  his  family  are  of  that  opinion. 
He  goes  straight  for  Hanover  and  Vienna  after  his 
Irish  trip,  so  probably  he  will  pick  up  something 
before  his  return  at  Xmas.  .  .  ." 

"  Cantley,  Sept.  3rd. 

".  .  .  Lauderdale  left  us  on  Wednesday.  Mrs. 
Taylor  and  myself  had  each  of  us  a  good  deal  of 
conversation  with  him  separately  about  Brougham. 
To  me,  he  avowed  his  old  opinion  as  to  Brougham's 
insanity,  and  renewed  his  old  question  whether  '  I 
had  any  doubt '  on  the  subject.  He  told  me  all  that 
Brougham  himself  had  told  me  as  to  him  (B.)  being 
the  first  person  to  propose  the  divorce,  and  he  added 
that  Lord  Hutchinson  had  no  more  to  do  with  the 
concern  than  he,  Lauderdale,  had — that  Brougham 
persuaded  him  [Lord  Hutchinson]  to  go  over  to  St. 
Omer's  merely  as  a  friend,  and  then  decoyed  him  into 
making  the  proposal,  upon  the  ground  that  f/ie  Queen 
ivould  suspect  any  proposition  that  came  from  him — B. 
...  I  said  to  Lauderdale — '  How  could  Hutchinson 
under  such  circumstances  practice  the  forbearance  he 
did?' — 'Because,'  said  L.,  'he  must  have  fought 
Brougham  and  ruined  him  for  ever,  and  he  gene- 
rously preferred  sacrificing  his  own  feelings  and 
himself  It  was  a  question  much  agitated  in  the 
family.  Kit  Hutchinson  *  was  for  war  with  Brougham, 
but  Lord  H.  would  let  nothing  be  done.  Had  ever 
man  such  an  escape  as  Brougham  ?  To  Mrs.  Taylor, 
Lauderdale  said  that  he  (L.)  was  the  first  man 
Brougham  spoke  to  in  the  spring  of  18 19  on  the 
subject  of  the  divorce,  desiring  him  to  forward  the 
proposal  either  to  the  King  or  the  Government,  but 
that  he  (L.)  positively  refused,  asking  B.  at  the  same 
time  if  it  was  not  highly  indelicate  for  such  a  proposal 
to  come  from  him.  Upon  the  whole,  I  am  quite  con- 
vinced that  Brougham's  intention  was  to  sacrifice  the 

*  The  Hon.  Christopher  H.  Hutchinson,  M.P.  for  Cork,  younger 
brother  of  Lord  Hutchinson. 


18^1.]  GEORGE    IV.   IN    IRELAND.  371 

Queen  from  motives  either  of  personal  ambition  or 
revenge;  and  I  am  still  more  convinced  now  of  what 
I  always  suspected — that,  when  he  entered  the  House 
of  Commons  on  the  7th  of  June  (I  think  it  was)  last 
year  on  his  return  from  St,  Omer's,  his  fixed  intention 
was  to  sacrifice  her  that  night  by  renouncing  all 
further  support  of  her,  and  that  he  was  prevented 
from  doing  so  by  finding  Bennett  and  myself  taking 
the  part  we  did  on  that  occasion.  ...  I  enclose  you 
a  copy  I  have  taken  of  a  letter  from  Lady  Glengall 
to  Mrs.  Taylor — very  curious  and  entertaining.  You 
know  she  has  been  Lady  Conyngham's  '  nearest  and 
dearest'  in  former  times.  .  .  .  You  know  she  is  an 
Irishwoman — a  niece  of  old  Lord  Clare — was  at  the 
head  of  Dublin  in  the  days  of  all  its  polished  and 
profligate  society  ;  and  nothing  can  be  so  natural, 
1  think,  as  her  criticism  upon  it  in  its  present  degraded 
state.  In  her  days,  Conyngham  was  in  poverty,  and 
Lady  Conyngham  owed  her  first  introduction  to 
Dublin  high  life  exclusively  to  Lady  Glengall.  .  .  ." 


Countess  oj  Glengall  to  Mrs.  Taylor. 

"  Dublin,  Aug.  27th. 

"  Now  then,  to  perform  my  promise  !  but  it  would 
require  the  wit  of  a  Creeve}^,  the  pen  of  a  Pindar* 
or  the  pencil  of  a  Gilray  to  do  justice  to  the  scene. 
Bedlam  broke  loose  would  be  tame  and  rational  to 
the  madness  of  this  whole  nation  ;  for  persons  of  all 
ranks  are  collected  from  all  parts  to  add  their  madness 
and  loyalty  to  that  of  this  ;;/<7<y-tropolis.  The  first 
sight  that  struck  my  eyes  on  landing  out  of  tne  steam- 
boat was  the  print  of  his  sacred  feet  cut  in  the  stone, 

well  turned  in,  thus  J  J\  \  ■     I  proceeded  a  little 


in,  thus   //I  ^ 


further,  when  a  triumphal  arch  struck  my  astonished 
ej'es.     It   was   worth}-   and    onl}'  fit   for  Jack-in-the- 

*  /.^.  John  Wolcott,  who,  under  the  pseudonym  of  "  Peter  Pindar," 
wrote  The  Lousiad,  and  a  j^rcat  quantity  of  occasional,  satirical,  and 
often  scurrilous  poems. 


^2  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIV. 

Green  on  a  May  Day.  Rags  hung  from  every  window 
which  are  called  flags,  but  which  would  be  taken  by 
any  one  in  their  senses  for  the  sign  of  a  dyer's  shop. 
Not  one  human  being  in  mourning,  and  when  I 
appeared  in  sables  at  a  ball,  and  was  asked  who  I 
mourned  for,  I  was  called  a  Radical !  He  was  dead 
DRUNK  when  he  landed  on  the  12th  of  August — his 
own  birthday.  They  drank  all  the  wine  on  board  the 
steamboat,  and  then  applied  to  the  whiskey  punch, 
till  he  could  hardly  stand.  This  accounts  for  his 
eloquent  speech  to  Lord  Kingston,  which  you  may 
have  seen  in  the  papers : — '  You  blackwhiskered 
rascal ! '  etc.  They  clawed  and  pawed  him  all  over, 
and  called  him  his  Ethereal  Majesty.  .  .  .  They 
absolutely  kiss  his  knees  and  feet,  and  he  is  enchanted 
with  it  all.  Alas  !  poor  degraded  country !  I  cannot 
but  blush  for  you.  Think  of  their  having  applauded 
Castlereagh  !  It  is  exactly  as  if  a  murderer  were 
brought  to  view  the  body  of  his  victim,  and  that  he 
was  to  be  applauded  for  his  crime ;  for  Dublin  is  but 
the  mangled  corpse  of  what  it  was  ;  and  he — the  man 
whom  they  huzza — the  cut-throat  who  brought  it  to 
its  present  condition. 

"  Lady  C[onyngham]  shows  but  little  in  public. 
She  lives  at  the  King's  own  lodge  at  the  Phoenix  Park. 
He  returned  from  Slane  *  this  day  and  report  says  he 
is  to  pay  another  visit  there.  It  is  much  talked  of  by 
all  ranks,  and  many  witticisms  are  dealt  forth.  .  .  . 
Ye  Gods  !  how  they  will  fight  next  week.  The  persons 
who  are  most  active  and  forward  in  managing  the 
fetes  will  be  undone,  as  the  money  subscribed  cannot 
be  collected.  It  is  a  melancholy  farce  from  beginning 
to  end,  and  they  have  voted  him  a  palace  !  In  short, 
palaces  in  the  air  and  drunkards  under  the  table  are 
the  order  of  the  day.  Ireland,  I  am  ashamed  of  you ! 
He  never  can  stand  it :  his  head  must  go.  Indeed, 
were  I  to  tell  you  half,  you  would  say  that  it  was 
already  going,  but  in  all  in  which  she  is  concerned,  I 
wish  to  be  silent.  .  .  .  Far  from  doing  good  to  this 
wretched  country,  his  visit  is  making  people  spend 
money  which  they  don't  possess.  .  .  .  Nothing  is  so 
indecent    as    the    total    neglect    of    mourning.      He 

*  The  Marquess  Conyngham's  seat  in  county  Meath. 


i82i.]  END    OF   THE    ROYAL   VISIT.  373 

appeared  at  his  private  levee,  the  day  after  his 
arrival,  in  a  bright  blue  coat  with  the  brightest 
yellow  buttons  *   .  .  . 

"  Ever  yours, 

•'  E.  Glengall." 

"  Cahir,  Sept.  lotli. 

".  .  .  The  King  I  find  has  cut  his  voyage  short  by 
landing  at  iVIilford.  He  was  strongl}^  advised  to  go 
quietly  to  Holyhead,  but  Sir  Watkinf  had  refused  to 
receive  a  certain  part  of  his  cortege,  saying  that  his 
wife  did  not  know  the  ladies.  ...  I  never  saw  Lady  C. 
in  higher  spirits  or  beauty.  She  went  little  into  public, 
and  the  King  hurried  over  all  the  sights,  as  he  could 
not  bear  to  be  away  from  her  five  minutes. J  Old  Sid- 
mouth  was  never  sober  :  the  newspapers  are  perfectl}' 
accurate  on  this,  as  on  many  other  occasions.  .  .  .  The 
Catholics  think  they  are  quite  triumphant  and  sure 
of  their  emancipation,  whilst  his  Majesty's  nods  and 
winks  to  the  High  Churchmen  have  quite  set  their 
friends  at  ease  with  regard  to  his  intentions.  It  is 
humbug!!  and  on  ever}^  side;  but  the  Dukeof  Leinster, 
Lord  Meath  and  the  Irish  Whigs  are  become  quite  as 
well  educated  courtiers  as  your  Devonshires  and 
others  that  shall  be  nameless.  .  .  ." 


Mr.  Crccvey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Cantley,  13th  Sept.,  1S21. 

".  .  .  My  little  friend,  the  youngest  Copley, §  can 
never  resist  touching  up  John  George  [Lambton]  for 

*  "  Blomfield  tells  me  that  the  King  intends  to  wear  mourning  at 
his  private  levee,  and  crape  round  his  arm  for  the  rest  of  the  lime.  It 
was  not  easy,  I  learn,  to  persuade  him  to  this"[r//^  Crokcr  Papers, 
i.  201].     Mr.  Croker  was  present  with  the  King  in  Dublin. 

t  Sir  W.  W.  Wynn,  4th  baronet  of  Wynnstay. 

X  "The  King  went  minutely  through  the  Museum  and  other  parts 
of  the  interior.  Whether  this  tired  him  or  that  he  was  too  impatient 
to  get  to  Slane,  I  cannot  tell — perhaps  both  ;  but  he  did  not  appear 
on  the  lawn  for  above  four  minutes.  .  .  .  Great  disappointment,  and 
some  criticism,  which  five  minutes  more  would  have  prevented"  [ZV/t? 
Croker  Papers,  i.  206]. 

§  Afterwards  married  to  3rd  Earl  Grey. 


374  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIV. 

one  of  his  sublimities.  The  first  day  he  was  here  he 
said  he  considered  ;^40,ooo  a  year  a  moderate  income 
— such  a  one  as  a  man  might  jog  on  ivith.  This  was 
when  we  were  alone ;  but  it  was  too  good  to  be  lost, 
and  .  .  .  yesterday  at  breakfast,  when  we  were  dis- 
cussing Lord  Harewood's  fortune,  little  Cop  said  with 
becoming  gravity  'she  believed  it  exceeded  a  couple 
of  jogs.'"  * 

On  14th  August,  when  Queen  Caroline's  body  was 
being  removed  for  embarkation  at  Colchester,  a  serious 
riot  took  place  in  the  streets,  during  which  two  persons 
lost  their  lives.  At  the  coroner's  inquest  upon  the 
bodies,  the  jury  returned  a  verdict  of  wilful  murder 
against  some  of  the  Life  Guards. 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"Gosforth  House,  28th  Sept.,  1821. 
".  .  .  As  you  are  all  soldiers  in  your  hearts,  I  send 
you  a  letter  I  got  from  Sefton  last  Sunday,  with  his 
opinion  touching  the  Life  Guards.  By  the  by,  Lambton 
sent  up  ;^5oo  from  Cantley  as  his  subscription  for  bu}^- 
ing  Wilson  an  annuity  equal  to  the  pay  he  has  lost.  .  .  ." 

Earl  of  Sefton  to  Mr.  Crecvcy,  enclosed  in  above. 

"  Paris,  13th  Sept.,  1821. 

".  .  .  Let  me  know  what  you  are  at.  I  take  it  for 
granted  you  are  red  hot  against  the  Life  Guards;  if 
so,  I  don't  agree  with  you ;  and  if  I  had  followed  my 
inclination,  1  should  have  subscribed  for  them.  I 
think  they  are  always  infamously  treated  by  the  mob, 
and  are  always  much  too  forbearing ;  but  never  so 
much  as  on  the  recent  occasion.  As  for  the  Govern- 
ment, they  ought  to  be  impaled,  and  I  hope  they  will. 
What  will  become  of  Brougham's  silk  gown?  ...  I 
hear  the  Whigs  have  great  hopes  of  coming  in,  I 
sincerel}^  hope  they  will  be  disappointed.  .  .  . 

"  Yours  ever, 

"Sefton." 

*  Mr.  Lambton,  created  Earl  of  Durham  in  1S33,  henceforward 
appears  in  these  letters  as  "  King  Jog." 


(    375     ) 


CHAPTER  XV. 

1822. 

Mr.  O'eevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Brooks's,  Feby.  Sth,  1823. 
"...   I  dine  at  Sefton's  again  to-day.     Did  I  tell 
you  that  Albemarle  is  to  be  married  on   Monday  to 
*  Charlotte  '  Hunlock  ?  *     Such  is  the  case.     The  lady 
is  45,  which  is  all  very  well  if  he  viust  be  married. 

"  I2th  P^cb. 
"...  I  dined  with  my  lord  and  my  lady  and  the 
young  ladies  at  \  before  4,  and  we  all  agreed  it  was 
much  the  best  hour  to  dine  at.  We  were  in  the  house 
by  10  minutes  after  5,  just  as  Brougham  got  up,  and 
of  course  I  heard  every  word  of  his  speech,  and  of 
Castlereagh's  answer  to  him.f  It  is  the  fashion  to 
praise  Brougham's  speech  more  than  it  deserves — at 
least  in  my  opinion.  It  was  free  from  faults,  I  admit, 
or  very  nearly  so  ;  and  tJuxt  I  think  was  its  principal 
merit.  Castlereagh's  was  an  impudent,  empty  answer, 
clearly  showing  the  monstrous  embarrassments  the 
Ministers  are  under,  as  to  managing  both  their  pecu- 
niary resources  and  their  House  of  Commons.  The 
division  was  a  very  great  one — under  all  the  circum- 
stances a  most  extraordinary  one.  The  effect  of  the 
motion,  if  carried,  was  to  take  off  6  or  7  millions  of 
taxes  at  once.  .  .  .  Against  this  sweeping  motion  the 

*  The  3i-d  Earl  of  Albemarle  [1772-1849].  Married  his  second 
wife,  Miss  CharloUe  Hunloke,  nth  February,  1822. 

t  Brougham's  motion  was  upon  the  distressed  state  of  the  country, 
and  for  a  reduction  of  taxation. 

2    D 


376  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XV. 

Government  could  only  produce  212  votes,  and  for  it 
were  found  such  men  as  Davenport  M.P.  for  Cheshire, 
Walter  Burrell  and  Curtis  members  for  Sussex,  John 
Fane  for  Oxfordshire,  Lavv^ley  for  Warwickshire,  Sir 
John  Boughey  for  Staffordshire,  and  a  good  many 
Tory  members  for  boroughs.  Tierney  thought  the 
motion  too  strong,  and  would  not  and  did  not  vote, 
and  we  had  21  of  our  men  shut  out — Lambton  with  a 
dinner  at  his  own  house,  Bennett,  Cavendishes  and 
others.  Tom  Dundas,  Chaloner  and  Ramsden,  who 
had  all  come  up  from  Yorkshire  on  purpose,  were  in 
the  same  scrape ;  Lord  John  Russell  and  others  the 
same." 

"  London,  i6th  Feby. 

"...  I  dined  at  Sefton's  with  the  ladies.  Brougham 
and  Ferguson  before  four,  and  was  in  the  House  some 
time  before  Castlereagh  began;  and  when  he  did  turn 
off,  such  bash  was  never  delivered  by  man.  The  folly 
of  him — his  speech  as  a  composition  in  its  attempt  at 
style  and  ornament  and  figures,  and  in  its  real  vulgarity, 
bombast  and  folly,  was  such  as,  coming  from  a  man  of 
his  order,  with  30  years'  parliamentary  experience  and 
with  an  audience  quite  at  his  devotion,  was  such  as  I 
say  amounted  to  a  perfect  miracle.  To  be  sure  our 
Brougham  as  a  rival  artist  with  him  in  talent  and 
composition,  play'd  the  devil  with  him,  and  made  a 
great  display.  ...  1  thought  I  should  have  died  with 
laughing  when  Castlereagh  spoke  gravely  and  hand- 
somely of  the  encreased  cleanliness  of  the  country 
from  the  encreased  excise  revenue  of  soap.  .  .  ." 

"  Brooks's,  Feby.  28th. 

^'yiy  benefit  y^ent  off  last  night  as  well  as  possible.* 
The  '  front  row '  of  course  could  not  attend,  so  I  went 
down  and  occupied  it  with  myself  and  my  books, 
with  Folkestone  on  one  side  of  me  and  Bennet  on  the 
other.  I  disported  m3^self  for  upwards  of  an  hour 
with  Bankes,  Finance  Committees  and  '  high  and 
efficient '  public  men.  .  .  .  Our  lads  were  in  extacies, 

*  It  was  a  motion  to  curtail  the  powers  of  the  Government  under 
the  Civil  Offices  Pensions  Act  of  1 8 17.  Creevey's  speech  occupies  nine 
pages  of  Hansard. 


i822.]  CREEVEY'S  ACTIVITY.  377 

and  kept  shouting  and  cheering  me  as  I  went  on,  with 
the  greatest  perseverance.  Brougham  and  Sefton 
were  amongst  my  bottle  holders  in  the  front  row,  and 
in  common  with  all  our  people  complimented  me 
hugely.  .  .  .  Petty  asked  me  how  Hume  came  off 
last  night.  Apropos  to  Hume,  never  was  a  villain 
more  compleatly  defeated  than  Croker,*  and  so  it  is 
admitted  on  all  hands,  so  that  our  Joe  is  raised  again 
to  the  highest  pinnacle  of  fame  for  his  accuracy  and 
arithmetic.  .  .  .  Here  is  Grey,  publickly  damning  the 
newspapers  for  reporting  my  speech  so  badly,  but  he 
has  'seen  enough  to  satisfy  himself  it  must  have  been 
very  good.' " 

"March  15th. 

"...  I  made  a  very  good  speech  (altho'  you  will 
find  little  trace  of  it  in  the  newspapers),  and  rolled 
the  new  Buckingham  Board  of  Controul  about  to 
their  heart's  content,  and  to  the  universal  satisfaction 
of  the  House.  Tierney  of  course  betrayed  me  by  his 
hollow  support,  and  then  I  had  all  the  weight  of 
Canning's  jokes  to  sustain,  evidently  prepared  and 
fired  upon  me  in  the  successive,  and  of  course  suc- 
cessful, peals.  ...  I  must,  or  ought  to,  regret  very 
much  that  I  let  Canning  off  so  easily ;  because,  to  do 
the  House  justice,  they  gave  me  perfectly  fair  play, 
and  when  I  fired  into  the  'Idle  Ambassador'  at  Lisbon, 
I  had  him  dead  beat.  He  dropt  his  head  into  his 
chest,  and  evidently  skulked  from  what  he  thought 
might  come.  ...  It  was  a  great,  and  perhaps  the  only 
opportunity  of  shewing  up  the  Joker's  life  and  what 
it  has  all  ended  in — banishment  to  India  from  want  of 
honesty.  ...  I  think  I  shall  have  full  measure  of 
these  bridal  visits.  I  dine  at  Ly.  Anson's  to-day,  on 
Sunday  at  McDonald's,  on  Thursday  with  the  young 
people  at  the  Duke  of  Norfolk's,  to-morrow  with  the 
IVhigs  at  Ridley's." 

"  Brooks's,  1 6th  March. 

"I  can't  get  the  better  of  my  chagrin  at  not  having 
done  myself  justice  upon  Canning  the  other  night.  .  .  . 

*  A  dispute  between  Joseph  Hume  and  J.  W.  Croker,  Secretary  to 

the  Admiralty,  upon  the  Navy  Estimates. 


378  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XV. 

1  dined  at  Ly.  Anson's  yesterday.  We  had  Coke  *  and 
Ly.  Anne,  Miss  Coke,  Lord  and  Ly.  Rosebery, 
Digby  and  Lady  Andover,t  Hinchcliffe  (Ld.  Crewe's 
nephew),  Mr.  Lloyd  and  myself.  I  sat  next  Lady 
Anson  by  her  desire.  I  was  introduced  both  by  her 
and  Coke  to  Lady  Anne,  who,  to  my  mind,  has  neither 
beauty  nor  elegance  nor  manners  to  recommend  her, 
but  if  ever  I  saw  a  deep  one,  it  is  her.  She  was  per- 
fectly at  her  ease.  On  the  other  hand,  I  never  saw 
more  perfect  behaviour  than  that  of  all  the  ladies  of 
the  family.  Miss  Coke  I  thought  was  lozv.  We  had, 
however,  a  very  merry  dinner,  and  I  went  upstairs 
and  staid  till  eleven.  I  kept  up  a  kind  of  running  fire 
upon  Coke,  and  Ly.  Anson  kept  her  hand  upon  my 
arm  all  the  time,  pinching  me  and  keeping  me  in  check 
when  she  thought  I  was  going  too  far.  ...  I  was  at 
Whitehall  last  night— Ly.  Ossulston,  Miss  Lemon, 
Ferguson,  Sefton  and  Vaughan,  and  then  I  came  here 
(Brooks's),  and  was  fool  enough  to  sit  looking  over  a 
whist  table  till  between  4  and  5  this  morning.  Sefton 
and  I  walked  away  together,  he  having  won  by  the 
evening  a  thousand  and  twenty  pounds." 

"  April  26th. 

".  .  .  Another  event  of  yesterday  was  Denman 
being  elected  Common  Serjeant  by  the  Common 
Council  of  London.  The  Queen's  counsel,  who  on 
that  occasion  compared  her  husband  to  Nero !  .  .  . 
This  was  homage  to  Denman's  honesty.  I  don't 
think  Brougham  could  have  succeeded,  superior  as 
he  is  to  the  other  in  talent." 

"  Brooks's,  April  27th. 
"  I    had    a    long    conversation   here   to-day   with 
Thanet.t     I  must  say,  '  altho' '  it  might  appear  to  any- 
body but  you  parasitical  in  his  member  to  say  so,  that 
in   agreeableness   and   honesty  he   surpasses  all  his 

*  Thomas  Coke  of  Holkham,  M.P.  for  Norfolk,  created  Earl  of 
Leicester  in  1837.  Married  his  second  wife,  Lady  Anne  Kcppel,  on 
26th  February,  1822,  mother  of  the  present  earl. 

t  Viscountess  Andover,  widow  of  the  15th  Earl  of  Suffolk's  eldest 
son,  married  in  1806  Admiral  Sir  Henry  Digby. 

X  Sackville  Tufton.  9th  Earl  of  Thanet, 


i822.]  IN  THE  WHIG  CAMP.  379 

order — easy.  To-morrow  I  dine  with  Sefton.  Here 
is  little  Derby  sitting  by  my  side — very,  very  old  in 
looks,  but  as  merry  as  ever.  Here  is  Brougham,  too, 
but  in  a  most  disgruntled,  unsatisfactory  state.  His 
manners  to  me  are  barely  civil,  but  I  take  no  notice, 
presuming  that  time  will  bring  him  round,  and  if  it 
don't— I  can't  help  it." 

"  Brooks's,  3rd  May. 
".  .  .  Your  philosophy  is  well  and  solidly 
grounded.  These  are  feeble  grievances  as  long  as 
you  are  all  well  :  nay,  I  might  add,  what  are  griev- 
ances like  these  to  those  of  Lord  and  Ly.  Salisbury 
— the  one,  the  descendant  of  old  Cecil  and  aged  80 
years  —  the  other,  the  head  and  ornament  and 
patroness  of  the  bean  mondc  of  London  for  the  last 
40  years,  and  yet  to  have  ;{J'20oo  per  ann.  taken  out 
of  their  pockets  at  last  by  a  rude  and  virtuous  House 
of  Commons.  ...  If  this  distress  will  but  pinch 
these  dirty,  shabby  landed  voters  two  sessions  more, 
there's  no  saying  at  what  degree  of  purity  we  shall 
arrive.  Meantime,  all  your  place  and  pension  holders 
must  shake  in  their  shoes.  .  .  .  Here  is  Grey  in  such 
roaring  spirits,  and  so  affable  that  I  should  not  be 
surprised  at  the  offer  of  a  place  from  him  when  he 
comes  in,  which  I  am  sure  he  now  thinks  must  be 
very  soon  indeed.  But  Abercromby  for  my  money  : 
he  told  me  last  night  it  zuas  all  over  with  the  present 
men." 

"7th  May. 

".  .  .  Brougham  was  sitting  at  Holland  House  on 
Sunday  morning  with  my  lady  and  various  others, 
when  a  slight  thunderstorm  came  on,  and,  according 
to  invariable  custom,  my  lady  bolted.  Presently  the 
page  summoned  Brougham  and  conducted  him  to 
my  lady's  bedchamber,  where  he  found  all  the 
windows  closed  and  the  candles  lighted.  She  said 
she  did  not  like  to  be  left  alone,  so  she  pressed  him 
to  stay  and  dine,  but  upon  his  saying  he  must  keep 
his  engagement  at  Ridley's — 'Ah,'  said  she,  'you  will 
meet  Creevey  there,  I  suppose.  What  ean  be  the 
reason  he  never  comes  near  me?' — We  both  of  us 
laughed   heartily  at   her  conscience   and   fears   thus 


380  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XV. 

smiting  her  when  she  thought  herself  in  danger ;  so 
I  must  leave  her  to  another  storm  or  two  before  I 
go  to  her." 

"  Denbies,  28th  May. 

".  .  .  Mrs.  Taylor  says  Lady  Glengall  told  her 
last  night  she  had  not  a  single  ticket  left  for  the 
Hibernian  ball  out  of  her  100.  .  .  .  You  know  the 
original  plan  was  to  have  had  the  affair  at  Willis's 
Rooms.  The  leading  female  managers  being  Lady 
Hertford  and  Dowr.  Richmond,  &c.,  &c.  The  block- 
heads, it  seems,  made  up  their  list  of  patronesses 
without  including  Ly.  Conyngham  in  the  number, 
and  she  was  not  a  lady  to  submit  quietly  to  such  an 
insult ;  so  she  started  this  opposition  ball  at  the 
Opera  House,  with  the  King  as  patron,  and  all  the 
same  ladies  as  patronesses  that  were  on  the  other 
list,  except  Lady  Hertford  and  Dowr.  Richmond.  The 
former  is  incensed  at  this  practical  retort  from  her 
successful  rival*  beyond  all  bounds.  ...  If  you 
wish  for  anything  in  the  public  line,  let  me  tell  you 
that  on  Thursday  or  Friday  last,  Castlereagh,  being 
in  Hyde  Park  on  horseback,  met  Tavistock,  and  tho' 
he  has  very  slight  acquaintance  with  him,  he  turned 
his  horse  about,  and  lost  no  time  in  unbosoming  him- 
self upon  the  state  of  public  affairs.  He  described 
the  torment  of  carrying  on  the  Government  under 
the  general  circumstances  of  the  country  as  beyond 
endurance,  and  said  if  he  could  once  get  out  of  it,  no 
power  on  earth  should  get  him  into  it  again."  f 

"Brooks's,  15th  June. 

".  .  .  As  it  is  not  very  often  I  am  in  the  literary 
line,  let  me  boast  of  having  read  three  hours  this 
morning,  being  very  much  delighted  with  a  new  book 
I  have  got.  It  is  the  poems  and  other  pieces  of  Sir 
Charles  Hanbury-Williams,  grandfather  to  the  present 
Lord  Essex.  .  .  .  As  a  wit  and  poet,  I  assure  you  the 
Welchman  is  of  high  order.  .  .  .  Then,  what  with 
text  and  notes,  you  have  the  whole  town  before  you 
— male  and  female  —  political  and  domestic  —  during 
30  years  of  the  last  century.  .  .  ." 

*  In  the  affections  of  the  King. 

t  V/ithin  a  few  weeks  of  this  Castlereagh  died  by  his  own  hand. 


1822.]  "A   VOICE    FROM    ST.   HELENA."  381 

"  1 8th  June. 

".  .  .  On  Saturday  I  dined  at  John  Williams's  in 
Lincoln's  Inn,  being  carried  there  by  Lambton  in  his 
coach,  protected  by  two  footmen.  Sunday  I  dined  at 
Cowper's  with  Sefton,  Jerseys,  Ossulston,  George 
Lambs,  Carnarvon,  Kensington  and  Wm.  Lambe.  .  .  . 
I  am  sorry  to  find  that  my  friend  Sir  Charles  Hy. 
Williams  has  some  great  objections  to  him  on  the 
score  of  delicacy." 

"  Cantley,  July  21. 

".  .  .  Well,  I  wonder  whether  you  will  be  any- 
thing like  as  much  interested  by  O'Meara  and  Buona- 
parte as  I  have  been  and  am  still.  I  can  think  of 
nothing  else.  ...  I  am  perfectly  satisfied  Buonaparte 
said  all  that  O'Meara  puts  into  his  mouth.  Whether 
that  is  all  true  is  another  thing.  .  .  .  There  are  parts 
of  the  conversations,  too,  which  are  quite  confirmed, 
or  capable  of  being  so,  by  evidence.  For  instance — 
when  O'Meara  lent  him  the  Edinhiirgh  Review,  just 
come  out,  with  a  sketch  of  his  life  in  it,  he  expresses 
to  O'Meara  the  greatest  surprise  at  some  facts  there 
stated,  as  he  says  he  is  sure  they  are,  or  were,  only 
known  to  his  own  family.  It  turns  out  the  article  in 
question  was  written  by  Allen,  and  the  facts  referred 
to  were  told  to  Lord  Holland  when  at  Rome  by 
Cardinal  Fesch.  Again ;  the  conversations  which 
Nap  states  to  have  taken  place  between  him  and 
young  de  Stael,  the  latter  says  are  perfectly  correct 
as  to  the  periods  and  the  subject  of  them,  tho'  he 
denies  some  of  Nap's  statements  in  them  to  be  true. 
It  is  very  difficult  to  predict  what  is  to  cause  any 
permanent  impression  or  effect,  but,  judging  from 
my  own  feelings,  I  shd.  say  these  conversations  of 
Nap's  are  calculated  to  produce  a  very  strong  and 
very  universal  one  upon  very  many  subjects,  and 
upon  most  people  in  future  times,  as  well  as  our 
own.    * 

*  Lord  Rosebery's  is  the  latest  hand  that  has  dealt  with  the 
prisoner  of  St.  Helena,  and  that  with  a  very  sympathetic  touch.  Of 
O'Meara's  book  he  says— "^  Voice  fr on  Si.  JIcinin,hy  O'Meara 
is  perhaps  the  most  popular  of  all  the  Longwood  narratives,  and  few 


382  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.       [Ch.  XV. 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  by  Lord 
Derby  refers  to  the  candidature  of  his  grandson, 
afterwards  fourteenth  earl,  for  Stockbridge,  and 
marks  the  first  public  appearance  of  the  future 
"  Rupert  of  debate." 

"  Knowsley,  loth  August,  1822. 

"  My  dear  Creevey, 

"  I  last  night  received  your  very  kind  letter 
and  take  the  earliest  opportunity  of  thanking  you  for 
the  communication  of  Ld.  Sefton's  letter  concerning 
Edward  Stanley's  debut  at  Stockbridge.  It  is  most 
gratifying  to  me  to  hear  him  so  vv^ell  spoken  of  .  .  . 
You  could  not  have  told  me  anything  that  was  more 
acceptable  to  me,  and  I  feel  most  grateful  to  you  for 
this  attention.  .  .  .  Speaking  in  Parliament  is,  how- 
ever, so  very  different  thing  from  speaking  on  the 
hustings  or  at  an  election  dinner  that  I  shall  still 
be  very  anxious  for  his  success  in  the  house,  and  I 
earnestly  hope  that  he  may  not  be  in  too  great  a 
hurry  to  begin.  .  .  ." 

Lord  Castlereagh,  who  succeeded  his  father  as 
second  Marquess  of  Londonderry  on  8th  April,  1821, 
but  wdio  will  always  be  best  recognised  under  the 
title  which  he  raised  to  distinction,  perished  by  his 
own  hand  on  13th  August,  1822.     The  circumstances 

publications  ever  excited  so  great  a  sensation  as  this  worthless  book. 
Worthless  it  undoubtedly  is,  in  spite  of  its  spirited  flow  and  the  vivid 
interest  of  the  dialogue.  No  one  can  read  the  volumes  of  Forsyth,  in 
which  are  printed  the  letters  of  O'Meara  to  Lowe,  or  the  handy  and 
readable  treatise  in  which  Mr.  Seaton  distils  the  essence  of  these 
volumes,  and  retain  any  confidence  in  O'Meara's  facts.  He  may 
sometimes  report  conversations  correctly,  or  he  may  not,  but  in  any 
doubtful  case  it  is  impossible  to  accept  his  evidence.  He  was  the 
confidential  servant  of  Napoleon ;  unknown  to  Napoleon,  he  was 
the  confidential  agent  of  Lowe  ;  and  behind  both  their  backs  he  was 
the  confidential  informant  of  the  British  Government,  for  whom  he 
wrote  letters  to  be  circulated  to  the  Cabinet.  Testimony  from  such 
a  source  is  obviously  tainted"  {^Napoleon :  the  Last  Phase,  1900]. 


i822.]  THE   FREQUENCY   OF   SUICIDE.  3^3 

are  too  well  known  to  require  further  reference,  ex- 
cept to  note  that  the  different  causes  mentioned  by 
Mr.  Creevey  to  account  for  this  great  statesman's 
derangement  are  wide  of  the  mark.  Castlereagh  had 
submitted  to  a  peculiarly  nefarious  system  of  black- 
mail by  some  villains  who  had  entrapped  him,  and 
the  agony  of  apprehension  resulting  from  this,  act- 
ing upon  a  mind  perhaps  overstrained  in  the  public 
service  during  a  long  and  peculiarly  agitated  period, 
brought  about  the  disaster. 

Suicide  was  of  painfully  frequent  occurrence 
among  public  men  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  Paull,  the  enemy  of  Marquess  Wellesley, 
in  1808  —  Samuel  Whitbread  in  181 5  — Sir  Samuel 
Romilly  in  1818— and  now  Castlereagh  in  1823,  are 
among  the  figures  who  disappeared  in  this  melan- 
choly manner  from  the  stage  depicted  in  these 
papers.  It  may  be  idle  to  speculate  upon  the  source 
of  a  tendency  which  prevails  no  longer  among  our 
legislators ;  but  those  who  have  had  occasion  to 
peruse  the  memoirs  and  study  the  social  habits  of  the 
period  under  consideration,  cannot  have  overlooked 
two  agencies  which  must  have  sapped  all  but  the 
most  robust  constitutions.  One  was  the  habit  of  hard 
drinking,  encouraged  by  all  who  could  afford  to  give 
hospitality,  in  emulation  of  the  example  furnished  by 
those  who  set  the  fashions.  The  other  was  the 
constant  recourse  to  drastic  physic  and  excessive 
bleeding  to  remedy  the  disorders  induced  by  high 
living.  If  these  were  not  contributing  causes  to 
suicide,  their  discontinuance  at  all  events  coincides 
with  a  marked  reduction  in  its  frequency. 

It  had  been  agreeable  to  trace  in  Creevey's  corre- 
spondence some  signs  of  large-hearted  regret  for  the 


384  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.       [Ch.  XV. 

removal  of  one  who  had  borne  so  great  a  part  in  the 
national  history,  and  had  so  long  led  the  House  of 
Commons,  The  spirit  of  party  seems  to  have  been 
too  acrid  at  the  time  to  admit  any  infusion  of  gentler 
sentiment  towards  a  fallen  foe. 


Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Cantley,  14  Aug.,  1822. 

".  .  .  And  now  for  Castlereagh — what  an  extra- 
ordinary event !  I  take  for  granted  his  self-destruction 
has  been  one  of  the  common  cases  of  pressure  upon 
the  brain  which  produces  irritability,  ending  in  de- 
rangement. Taylor  will  have  it,  and  Ferguson  also 
believes  in  this  nonsense,  that  Bonaparte's  charge 
against  him  as  told  by  O'Meara,  of  his  having  bagged 
part  of  Nap's  money  has  had  something  to  do  with  it. 
Do  you  remember  my  telling  you  of  a  conversation 
Castlereagh  forced  upon  Tavistock  in  the  Park  in  the 
spring — about  his  anxiety  to  quit  office  and  politicks 
and  Parliament  ?  *  He  did  the  same  thing  to  Ferguson 
one  of  the  last  nights  at  Almack's,  stating  his  great 
fatigue  and  exhaustion  and  anxiety  to  be  done  with 
the  concern  altogether — just  as  poor  Whitbread  did 
to  me  both  by  letter  and  conversation  two  years 
before  his  death.  It  is  a  curious  thing  to  recollect 
that  one  night  at  Paris  in  181 5  when  I  was  at  a 
ball  at  the  Beau's,  Castlereagh  came  up  to  me  and 
asked  if  I  had  not  been  greatly  surprised  at  Whit- 
bread's  death,  and  the  manner  of  it,  and  then  we  had 
a  good  deal  of  conversation  on  the  subject. 

"  Death  settles  a  fellow's  reputation  in  no  time,  and 
now  that  Castlereagh  is  dead,  I  defy  any  human  being 
to  discover  a  single  feature  of  his  character  that  can 
stand  a  moment's  criticism.  By  experience,  good 
manners  and  great  courage,  he  managed  a  corrupt 
House  of  Commons  pretty  well,  with  some  address. 
This  is  the  whole  of  his  intellectual  merit.  He  had 
a  limited  understanding  and   no  knowledge,  and  his 

*  See  p.  380. 


X'lSCOLNT    CASILlCKJiAGH. 


[To  face  p.  384. 


i822.]  CASTLEREAGH'S   DEATH.  3^S 

whole  life  was  spent  in  an  avowed,  cold-blooded  con- 
tempt of  every  honest  public  principle.  A  worse,  or, 
if  he  had  had  talent  and  ambition  for  it,  a  more 
dangerous,  public  man  never  existed.  However,  he 
was  one  of  Nap's  imbeciles,  and  as  the  said  Nap  over 
and  over  again  observes,  posterity  will  do  them  both 
justice.  .  .  . 

"Now,  what  will  come  next  ?  Will  the  perfidious 
Canning  forego  his  Indian  prospects — stay  with  his 
wife  and  daughter  to  succeed  Castlereagh.  I  think 
not.  I  think  the  former  enmity  between  him  and 
Eldon  has  been  too  publickly  exposed  and  encreased, 
by  their  late  sparring  match  upon  the  Marriage  Act, 
to  let  them  come  together.  Then  I  think  the  Beau 
will  claim  and  have  the  Foreign  Office,  and  Peel  will 
claim  to  lead  in  the  House  of  Commons.  Mais-nous 
verrons !  I  suppose  the  King  will  approve  the  step 
Lord  Castlereagh  has  taken,  as  he  was  Lady  Conyng- 
ham's  abhorrence,  and  Lady  Castlereagh  would  not 
speak  to  Lady  Conyngham.' 

"What  a  striking  thing  this  death  of  Castlereagli 
is  under  all  the  circumstances  !  This  time  last  year 
he  was  revelling  with  his  Sovereign  in  the  country  he 
had  betrayed  and  sold,  over  the  corpse  of  the  Queen 
whom  he  had  so  inhumanly  exposed  and  murdered. 
Ah,  Prinney,  Prinney  !  your  time  will  come,  my  bo^^ ; 
and  then  your  fame  and  reputation  will  have  fair  play 
too.  .  .  .  Taylor  had  a  letter  from  Denison  yesterday 
with  a  good  deal  of  London  jaw  in  it,  and  some  of  it 
is  curious  enough  considering  the  quarter  it  comes 
from.*  Bloomfield  is  to  go  to  Stockholm  as  our 
minister!  and  then  Denison  says,  had  he  not  been 
discharged,  the  Privy  Purse  was  in  such  a  state. 
Parliament  must  have  been  applied  to.  Bloomfield's 
defence  is,  the  Privy  Purse  was  exhausted  by  pay- 
ing for  diamonds  for  Lady  Conyngham ;  and  all 
these  honors  and  emoluments  showered  on  him 
by  the  Crown  are  given  him  to  make  him  hold  his 
tongue.  .  .  ." 

*  William  Joseph  Denison  of  Den]:)ies,  M.P.,  was  l)rothcr  to  the 
Marchioness  of  Conyngham. 


3^^  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XV. 


Henry  Brougham,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Crcevey. 

"  Carlisle,  19th  Aug. 

".  .  .  Well !  this  is  really  a  considerable  event  in 
point  of  size.  Put  all  their  other  men  together  in 
one  scale,  and  poor  Castlereagh  in  the  other — single, 
he  plainly  weighed  them  down.  .  .  .  One  can't  help 
feeling  a  little  for  him,  after  being  pitted  against  him 
for  several  years  prett}''  regularly.  It  is  like  losing  a 
connection  suddenly.  Also,  he  was  a  gcntleinmi,  and 
the  only  one  amongst  them.  But  there  are  material 
advantages  ;  and  among  them  I  reckon  not  the  least 
that  our  excellent  friends  that  are  gone,  and  for 
whom  we  felt  so  bitterly,  are,  as  it  were,  revenged. 
I  mean  Whitbread  and  Romilly.*  1  cannot  describe 
to  you  how  this  idea  has  filled  my  mind  these  last  24 
hours.  No  mortal  will  now  presume  to  whisper  a 
word  against  these  great  and  good  men — I  mean  in 
our  time  ;  for  there  never  was  any  chance  of  their 
doing  so  in  after  time.  All  we  wanted  was  a  gag  for 
the  present,  and  God  knows  here  we  have  it  in 
absolute  perfection.  Hitherto  we  were  indulged  with 
the  enemy's  silence,  but  it  was  by  a  sort  of  forbear- 
ance ;  1201V  we  have  it  of  right. 

As  for  the  question  of  his  successor — who  cares 
one  farthing  about  it?  We  know  the  enemy  is  in- 
calculably damaged  anyhow.  Let  that  suffice !  He 
has  left  behind  him  the  choice  between  the  Merry 
Andrew  and  the  Spinning  Jenny  ;t  and  the  Court — 
the  vile,  stupid,  absurd,  superannuated  Court — may 
make  its  election  and  welcome.  The  damaged  Prig 
or  the  damaged  Joker  signifies  very  little.  I  rather 
agree  with  Taylor  that  they  will  take  Wellington  for 
the  Secy,  of  State,  and  that  Canning  will  still  go  to 
India.  ...  I  rather  think  I  shd.  prefer  the  very 
vulnerable  Canning  remaining  at  home.  By  the  way, 
I  hope  to  live  to  see  medical  men  like  Bankhead  tried 
for  manslaughter,  at  the  least.  What  think  you  of 
removing  things  from  poor  C,  and  then  leaving  him 
alone,  even  for  5  minutes?.  .  ." 

*  Both  of  whom  committed  suicide, 
t  Canning  and  Peel. 


1822.]  GEORGE    IV.   IN   SCOTLAND.  387 

George  IV.  made  a  royal  progress  to  Edinburgh  in 
August  of  this  year.  Thanks,  in  great  measure,  to 
the  influence  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  his  Majesty  was 
received  in  the  northern  capital  with  far  more  respect 
and  enthusiasm  than  he  had  been  accustomed  of  late 
to  experience  in  the  south. 

From  —  Stuart  to  Mr.  Ferguson  of  Raith. 

"Edinburgh,  17th  Aug.,  1S22. 

"...  I  send  you  a  Scotsman  [newspaper],  the 
Account  in  which  as  to  the  King  is  pretty  correct. 
He  has  been  received  by  the  people  in  the  most 
respectful  and  orderly  manner.  All  have  turn'd  out 
in  their  holiday  cloaths,  and  in  numbers  which  are 
hardly  credible.  ...  I  have  been  much  disappointed 
to-day  with  the  levee.  .  .  .  There  was  nothing  in- 
teresting or  imposing  about  it.  A  vast  crowd,  with 
barely  standing  room  for  two  hours :  afterwards 
moved  to  the  Presence  Chamber,  where  no  one  was 
for  a  minute.  .  .  .  The  King  did  not  seem  to  move  a 
muscle,  and  we  all  asked  each  other,  w4ien  we  came 
away,  what  had  made  us  take  so  much  trouble.  He 
was  dressed  in  tartan.  SirWalter  Scott  has  ridiculously 
made  us  appear  to  be  a  nation  of  Highlanders,  and 
the  bagpipe  and  the  tartan  are  the  order  of  the  day." 

Henry  Brougham,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevcy. 

"  Lancaster,  21st  August. 

"...  I  dined  the  da}^  before  yesterday  at  old 
Bolton's  circuit  dinner,  and  found  Canning  there.  I 
had  a  good  deal  of  talk  with  him  about  Castlcrcagh, 
and  he  spoke  very  properly.  Neither  of  us  canted 
about  the  matter;  but  he  shewed  the  right  degree  of 
feeling.  I  don't  think  he  is  going  to  be  sent  for,  and 
am  pretty  sure  he  will  go  to  India.  If  they  are  kind 
enough  to  do  so  excellent  a  thing  as  try  it  with  the 
low,  miserable  Spinning   Jenny,*  thank   God  for  it ! 

*   Peel. 


388     '      THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.       [Ch.  XV. 

Only  lose  no  time  in  reminding  Barnes,  as  from  your- 
self, of  the  magazine  of  ammunition  for  attacking  him 
the  moment  the  arrangement  is  made — I  mean,  in  the 
debates  of  1819,  when  I  laid  it  into  him  in  a  merciless 
manner.  It  is  pretty  correctly  given,  and  is  a  fund  of 
attack ;  the  rather  that  the  fellow  was  caught  in  the 
fact  of  the  very  lowest  trick  ever  man  attempted.  It 
was  like  having  his  hand  seized  while  picking  a 
pocket. 

"  Yours  ever, 

"H.  B." 

"  Lancaster,  22nd  Aug. 
"...  I  hope  you  are  sufficiently  angry  at  the  cursed 
cant  of  the  liberal  daily  papers  about  Castlereagh.  I 
ought  rather  to  say  their  childish  giving  vent  to  feel- 
ings, and  bepraising  C.  absurdly  and  falsely,  merely 
because  he  is  dead.  Such  stuff  takes  away  all  authority 
from  the  press,  and  makes  attacks  really  of  no  kind  of 
importance.  If  they  go  on  upon  all  subjects  upon  the 
mere  impulse  of  the  moment,  they  will  soon  cease  to 
be  any  more  attended  to  than  a  parcel  of  infants  or 
lunatics." 

"  Brougham,  24  Aug. 

"Dear  C,  «       -   4      „ 

"  I  long  to  know  your  speculations  upon  these 
times,  as  I  have  heard  nothing  from  you  since  we 
were  bereaved  of  our  Castlereagh ;  therefore  I  can't 
be  sure  that  you  have  survived  that  event.  .  .  .  Don't 
believe  in  Canning's"  coming  in.  He  may  be  unwise 
enough  to  desire  it,  and  Jenky  *  may  try  for  him,  and 
it  may  go  so  far  as  a  kind  of  offer ;  but  nothing  short 
of  the  event  will  ever  convince  me  of  his  being  in 
the  Cabinet  with  these  men  and  with  this  King.  .  ,  ," 


'£>• 


Mr.  Crecvey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Cantley,  Aug.  24,  1822. 

"This  Royalty  is  certainly  the  very  devil.  .  .  . 
Sussex  arrived  on  Wednesday  between  3  and  4, 
himself    in    a   very    low    barouche   and   pair,   and   a 

*  Lord  Liverpool. 


i822.]  THE   DUKE   OF   SUSSEX.  389 

thundering  coach  behind  with  four  horses — his  staff, 
Stephenson,  a  son  of  Albemarle's,  a  Gore,  servants, 
groom  of  the  chambers,  a  black  valet-de-chambrc  and 
two  footmen,  clad  en  inilitaircs.  ...  It  has  been  my 
good  fortune  during  his  stay  here  to  be  considered  by 
all  parties  as  his  fittest  companion.  Accordingly,  I 
had  a  tetc-a-tcte  with  him  of  nearly /o//r  hours  together 
on  Thursday,  and  of  2\  yesterday,  and  my  health  has 
really  been  greatly  impaired  by  this  calamity.  He  has 
every  appearance  of  being  a  good-natured  man,  is  very 
civil  and  obliging,  never  says  anything  that  makes 
you  think  him  foolish ;  but  there  is  a  nothingness  in 
him  that  is  to  the  last  degree  fatiguing.  .  .  .  Althorpe 
was  here  yesterday,  and  told  me  there  had  certainly 
been  rejoicings  in  the  neighbouring  market  towns 
upon  Castlereagh's  death.  ,  .  . 

"  Robert  Ferguson  *  tells  me  that  he  has  seen  a 
great  deal  of  Major  Poppleton  lately,  the  officer  of  the 
53rd  who  was  stationed  about  Bonaparte.  Bob  says 
Poppleton  is  quite  as  devoted  to  Nap,  and  as  adverse 
to  Lowe  as  O'Meara,  and  that  all  the  officers  of  the 
53rd  were  the  same.  .  .  .  Poppleton  has  a  beautiful 
snuff-box  poor  Nap  gave  him.  What  would  I  give  to 
have  such  a  keepsake  from  him,  and,  above  all,  to  have 
seen  him.  O'Meara  has  a  tooth  of  his  he  drew,  which 
he  always  carries  about  with  him.  .  .  ." 

"  Cantley,  Aug.  29. 

".  .  .  Did  I  tell  you  that  our  Sussex  is  to  come  back 
to  us  for  Doncaster  races?  .  .  .  Miss  Poyntz  has 
refused  Lord  Gower,t  as  has  Miss  Bould  of  Bould 
Hall  Lord  Clare.  .  .  .  Miss  Seymour  (Minny)  when 
she  landed  at  Calais  had  O'Meara's  book  in  her  hand, 
which,  when  recognised,  was  instantly  seized  by  the 
police.  What  a  specimen  of  a  great  nation  and  the 
proud  situation  of  the  Bourbons  !  However,  Sussex 
told  me  the  book  was  already  translated  into  both 
French  and  German,  so  the  Hereditary  Asses  of  all 
nations  won't  escape,  with  all  their  precautions.  Did 
I  tell  you  that  Sussex  says  none  of  his  sisters  will 

*  Son  of  General  [Sir]  Ronald  Ferguson,  M.P.,  originally  in  the 
53rd  Foot,  succeeded  his  brother  in  1840  as  laird  of  Raith. 
t  Afterwards  2nd  Duke  of  Sutherland. 


390  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.       [Ch.  XV. 

touch  Ly.  Conyngham,  which  gives  mortal  offence  to 
Prinney  ;  nor  can  their  justification  be  very  agreeable, 
for  they  say,  after  his  insisting  upon  their  not  speak- 
ing to  the  late  Queen,  how  can  they  do  so  to  Ly.  C.  ? 

"  Cantley,  Sept.  3. 
".  .  .  Maria  Copley  says  Miss  Canning  is  quite 
broken-hearted  at  going  [to  India].  She  says  that 
her  forte  is  her  memory,  as  proof  of  which  she  gave 
me  two  instances.  One  was,  getting  by  heart  in  a 
few  hours  the  39  Articles :  the  other  was,  in  a  some- 
what longer  time,  repeating  the  whole  of  a  Times 
newspaper,  from  beginning  to  end,  advertisements 
and  all.  Maria  says  Lady  Charlotte  Greville,  having 
dined  at  the  Pavilion  not  long  ago,  and  having  sat 
next  the  King,  describes  him  as  grown  the  greatest 
bore  she  ever  saw.  .  .  .  His  irritability  of  temper,  they 
say,  is  become  quite  intolerable  ;  his  prevailing  subject 
of  complaint  is  his  old  age,  at  which  he  feels,  of  course, 
the  most  royal  indignation.  .  .  ." 

"Cantley,  Sept.  7,  1822. 

".  .  .  Maria  Copley  has  read  me  a  letter  from  Lady 
Francis  Leveson  from  her  new  and  noble  parents' 
Cock  Robin  Castle,*  at  the  other  extremity  of  Scot- 
land, It  is  really  not  amiss  as  an  exhibition  of  the 
tip-top  noble  domestic.  Lord  Francis  t  had  left 
Edinbro  immediately  upon  Lord  Stafford's  t  illness, 
and  Lady  Francis  followed  immediately  to  pass  a 
month  there  [at  Dunrobin].  She  says — *  Figure  to 
yourself  my  introduction  into  a  room  about  12  feet 
square,  the  company  being  Lord  and  Lady  Stafford, 
Lord  and  Lady  Wilton,  Lord  and  Lady  Elizabeth 
Belgrave,  Lord  and  Lady  Surrey,  and  Lord  Gower. 
A  table  in  the  midst  of  the  room,  highly  polished,  I 
admit,  but  not  a  book  nor  a  piece  of  work  to  be  seen  : 
the  company  formed  into  a  circle,  and  every  man  and 
his  wife  sitting  next  each  other,  after  the  manner  of 
the  Marquis  of  Newcastle's  family  in  the  picture  in  his 
book.'" 

*  Dunrobin. 

t  Afterwards  created  Earl  of  Ellesmere. 

X  Created  Duke  of  Sutherland  in  1833. 


iS22.]  CANNING   ASSUMES  THE   LEAD.  39^ 

"Cantley,  Sept.  15th,  1S22. 

".  .  .  Amongst  other  people  whom  I  saw  at  tiie 
ball  was  Tom  Smith  the  hunter  and  M.P.*  Upon 
my  saying  Canning  had  made  a  bad  thing  of  it  in 
bringing  in  no  one  with  him,  he  said  it  was  quite  bad 
enough  to  have  him  brought  in  without  any  other  of 
his  set,  and  that  he  (Smith)  was  of  Falstaffs  opinion 
that  Canning  was  as  rotten  as  a  stewed  prune,  or 
words  to  that  effect.  .  .  ." 


Henry  Brougham,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevcy. 

"Brougham,  14  Sept. 

"Dear  C, 

"  Many  thanks  for  your  letter,  I  had,  how- 
ever, yesterday  heard  {via  Bowood  where  the  Hollands 
are)  that  all  was  settled.  Canning  succeeds  to  Foreign 
Office,  lead  of  the  House,  &c. — in  short,  all  of  Castle- 
reagh  except  his  good  judgt.,  good  manners  and  bad 
English.  .  .  .  Now  don't  still  call  me  obstinate  if  I 
withhold  my  belief  till  1  see  them  fairly  under  weigh. 
1  know  the  Chancellor's  f  tricks  :  he  is  '  the  most  subtle 
of  all  the  beasts.'  .  .  .  The  Beau  X  is  still  very  unwell, 
and  was  cupped  again  on  Thursday  night." 

Mr.  Crccvcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"Cantley,  Sept.  19. 

".  .  .  What  a  victim  of  temper  poor  Lambton  is  ! 
He  has  been  complaining  to  me  of  his  nnhappincss.  I 
observed  in  reply  that  he  had  a  good  many  of  the 
articles  men  in  general  considered  as  tolerable 
ingredients  for  promoting  happiness ;  to  which  he 
replied  :— '  I  don't  know  that ;  but  1  do  know  that  it's 
damned  hard  that  a  man  with  ;!^8o,ooo  a  year  can't 
sleep!'     He  has  not  much   merit  but  his  looks,  his 

Broperty  and  his  voice  and  power  of  publick  speaking, 
le  has  not  the  slightest  power  or  turn  for  conversa- 
tion, and  would  like  to  live  exclusively  on  the  flattery 

*  Thomas  Asshcton  Smith. 

t  Lord  Eldon. 

%  The  Duke  of  Wellington. 


392  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XV. 

of  toadies;  nevertheless,  I  am  doomed  to  go  to  Lamb- 
ton  :  he  will  hear  of  nothing  less,  and  I  have  shirked 
him  so  often,  1  suppose  I  must  go.  .  .  ." 


Henry  Brougham,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevcy. 

"Raby,  Sept.,  1822. 
"  Dear  Citizen, 

"Your  letter  gives  me  some  comfort,  and 
indeed  much  coincides  with  my  own  view  of  the 
Merryman's*  case.  Certainly  he  presents  more  sore 
places  to  the  eye  of  the  amateur  than  most  men. 
Moreover  his  coin  is  now  about  cried  down — at  least 
hardly  current.  He  is  stampt  as  a  joker,  and  therefore 
dare  not  joke :  not  to  mention  that  hard  figures  of 
arithmetick  are  too  hard  to  be  got  over  by  figures 
of  rhetorick.  All  these  things,  and  his  gout  and 
irritability,  I  try  to  console  myself  withal,  but  still  I 
own  I  am  somewhat  low — not  so  much  at  what  we 
are  to  have,  which  is  most  excellent  in  its  way — but 
at  what  we  have  lost,  which  is  by  far  the  best  thing 
in  the  world — namely,  the  Spinning  Jenny,t  Vesey,  % 
Kew,  Bellamy  and  Co.  It  was  indeed  too  good  a 
thing  to  happen.  .  .  ." 

"Brougham,  Tuesday  [Sept.,  1822]. 

"...  I  hope  you  are  sufficiently  vexed  at  Hume 
making  such  an  ass  of  himself  as  he  did  t'other  day 
by  his  stupid  vanity  and  his  attack,  thro'  such  vanity, 
on  the  rest  of  the  Opposition.  His  kind  patronage  of 
Archy  is  only  laughable,  but  to  see  him  splitting  on 
that  rock  (of  egotism  and  vanity)  is  rather  provoking. 
What  right  has  he  to  talk  of  the  Whigs  never  coming 
to  his  support  on  Parly.  Reform  ?  1  can  remind  him 
of  their  dividing  some  120  on  it  in  1812,  when  he  was 
sitting  at  Perceval's  back,  toad-eating  him  for  a  place, 
and  acting  the  part  of  their  covert  doer  of  all  sorts  of 
dirty  work  in  the  coarsest  and  most  offensive  way, 
thro'  the  whole  battle  of  the  Orders  in  Council,  when 

*  Canning, 
t  Peel. 

J  Right   Hon.  W.  Vesey    Fitzgerald,    M.P.    [1783-1843],    after- 
wards Lord  Fitzgerald. 


i822.]  LORD   THANET   ON   THE   SITUATION.  393 

we  beat  them  and  him !  I  always  have  defended  him 
when  that  period  of  his  life  has  been  cast  in  my  teeth, 
and  on  this  one  ground — that  Bentham,  Mill,  &c.,  who 
converted  him,  persuaded  me  that  his  former  conduct 
was  from  mere  want  of  education,  and  that  he  was 
radically  honest.  But  off  hands !  an't  please  you, 
good  Master  Joseph!  In  truth  I  cannot  reckon  a 
man's  conduct  at  all  pure  who  shows  up  others  at 
public  meetings  behind  their  backs,  whom  he  never 
v/hispers  a  word  against  in  their  places.  There  is 
extreme  meanness  in  this  sneaking  way  of  ingratiating 
himself  at  their  expense,  and  the  utter  falsehood  of 
the  charge  is  glaring.  Parly.  Reform  has  never  once 
been  touched  by  him  (luckily  for  the  question).  The 
motions  on  it  last  session  were  Lord  John's  and  my 
own.  His  boro'  reform  professedly  steered  clear  of 
the  question.  I  trust  he  has  been  misrepresented,  but 
I  heard  in  Scotland  that  people  were  everywhere 
laughing  at  him  for  his  arrogance  and  vanity." 


Emi  of  Thanct  to  Mr.  Crcevey. 

"...  I  am  just  returned  from  Kent,  more  disgusted 
than  usual  at  the  language  and  temper  of  those  I  saw, 
which  I  take  for  a  sample  of  the  rest ;  everybody 
complaining,  without  an  idea  that  they  could  do  any- 
thing towards  attaining  relief.  Landlords  and  farmers 
seem  to  have  no  other  occupation  than  comparing 
their  respective  distresses.  They  ask  what  is  to 
happen.  I  answer — you  will  be  ruined,  and  they 
stare  like  stuck  pigs.  I  could  not  hear  of  one  Tory 
gentleman  who  had  changed.  One  booby  says  it  is 
the  Poor  Rate — another  the  Tithe— another  high 
rents — all  omit  the  real  cause,  taxation,  the  mother  of 
all  evil.  It  is  a  besotted  country,  and  may,  for  aught 
I  know,  be  a  proper  audience  for  Mr.  Merriman. 

"Brougham  has  been  bidding  ;^i 5,000  for  two 
farms  in  Westmorland.  The  seller  has  taken  time  to 
consider,  and,  if  he  does  not  nail  him,  he  must  have 
found  one  as  insane  as  himself" 

One  is  accustomed  to  associate  the  introduction  of 
the   battue   with   the    reign   of  Queen   Victoria,  and 


394  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.       [Ch.  XV. 

especially  with  the  Prince  Consort,  but  here  we  have 
an  early  example  of  the  practice,  and  not  only  the 
practice,  but  the  very  term  "battue"  is  applied  to 
it.  Holkham  has  long  been  famed  for  shooting,  but 
it  is  certainly  surprising  to  find  that  bags  on  this 
scale  could  be  made  eighty  years  ago,  by  men  shoot- 
ing with  flint-lock  muzzle-loaders.  There  are  few 
rabbits  in  the  covers  at  Holkham  now;  possibly 
they  were  more  numerous  there  when  George  IV. 
was  king. 

Viscountess  Anson  to  Mr.  Crccvcy. 

"Holkham,  Nov.  5,  1S22. 
".  .  .  Though  not  much  of  a  sportsman  yourself, 
you  may  be  living  with  those  who  are,  and  I  suppose 
it  would  be  incorrect  to  write  a  letter  from  hence — the 
day  after  the  first  battue — without  mentioning  that 
780  head  of  game  were  killed  by  10  guns,  and  that 
25  woodcocks  formed  a  grand  feature  in  the  chasse." 

Upon  Castlereagh's  death,  Wellington  went  on 
the  embassy  to  Verona  in  his  place.  It  was  Canning's 
policy,  on  succeeding  Castlereagh  at  the  Foreign 
Office,  to  make  it  appear  that  his  predecessor  had 
entered  upon  an  aggressive  line  in  regard  to  Euro- 
pean complications,  from  which  he — Canning — extri- 
cated the  British  Cabinet.  But  in  truth  Wellington 
carried  with  him  and  acted  upon  instructions  drafted 
by  Castlereagh  himself,  whereof  the  keynote  was  "  to 
observe  a  strict  neutrality."  Especially  was  this  so 
in  regard  to  the  French  invasion  of  Spain,  then 
imminent.  "There  seems  nothing  to  add  to  or  to 
vary  in  the  course  of  policy  hitherto  pursued.  Solici- 
tude for  the  safety  of  the  royal  family,  observance  of 
our  obligations  with  Portugal,  and  a  rigid  abstinence 


iS22.]    CANNING'S   VOICE,   CASTLEREAGH'S   HAND.     395 

from  any  interference  in  the  internal  affairs  of  that 
country " — these  are  Castlereagh's  own  words  as 
drafted  for  his  own  guidance  when  he,  and  not  Wel- 
lington, was  to  have  been  the  British  plenipotentiary 
at  the  Congress  ;  and  they  disprove  the  claim  made 
by  the  partisans  of  Canning  that  it  was  he,  not 
Castlereagh,  who  first  established  the  policy  of 
non-intervention  in  the  domestic  affairs  of  foreign 
countries  so  far  as  consistent  with  treaty  obligations. 
This  was  the  more  notable,  because  the  Emperor  of 
Russia,  formerly  distinguished  for  liberal  views,  had 
of  late  ranged  himself  in  line  with  the  other  crowned 
heads  of  Europe  in  desiring  to  repress  by  force  the 
revolutionary  movement  in  Spain,  which  country,  he 
told  Wellington,  "  he  considered  the  headquarters 
of  revolution  and  Jacobinism ;  that  the  King  and 
royal  family  were  in  the  utmost  danger,  and  that  so 
long  as  the  revolution  in  that  country  should  be 
allowed  to  continue,  every  country  in  Europe,  and 
France  in  particular,  was  unsafe."  * 

Mr.  Crecvcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Farnley,  14th  Nov.,  1822. 
"...  I  am  happy  to  see  from  the  papers  that  the 
Beau  is  getting  upon  his  legs  again,  and  I  am  still 
more  happy  that  he  is  at  Verona  instead  of  that 
terrible  fellow  Castlereagh.  It  appears  to  me  im- 
possible after  all  Wellington  has  said  to  me  about  the 
King  of  Spain  and  his  perfidy,  and  with  his  intimacy 
with  Alava,  one  of  Ferdinand's  victims,  that  the  Beau 
should  be  for  helping  him  out  of  his  difficulties.  Then 
he  knows  the  Spanish  nation  better  than  anybody 
else  here — their  universal  hatred  of  the  French — their 
great  resources  from  their  mountains  and  guerilla 
warfare.     In  short,  I  rely  with  confidence  upon  him 

*  Wellington's  Civil  Despatches,  i.  343. 


396  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XV. 

as  the  only  man  who,  on  this  occasion,  could  keep 
those  Royal  Imbeciles  and  Villains  of  Europe  in  any 
order,  and  I  consider  his  being  there  as  our  minister 
as  quite  a  godsend.  If  this  vapouring  French  ministry 
do  once  cross  the  Spanish  frontier,  the  devil  take 
the  hindmost  of  the  Bourbons,  both  French  and 
Spanish." 

Creevey,  having  had  rather  a  heated  correspon- 
dence with  Mr.  Lambton  (afterwards  Earl  of  Durham) 
on  political  subjects,  chiefly  connected  with  an  elec- 
tion for  York,  and  being  about  to  meet  him  at 
Croxteth,  felt  uncertain  as  to  the  terms  on  which 
they  stood  together.  He  therefore  wrote  to  Lamb- 
ton,  bluntly  seeking  for  an  understanding. 


Mr.  Lambton  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"Howick,  Nov.  IS,  1822. 

"  Dear  Creevey, 

"  You  have  already  smote  me  on  one  cheek, 
and  I  now,  in  the  true  spirit  of  scriptural  precept, 
offer  you  the  other.  In  other  and  more  profane 
words,  you  have  used  me  shamefully.  You  pro- 
mised to  come  to  our  races :  I  kept  a  room  for  you 
until  the  second  day  after  they  had  begun,  altho'  beds 
were  as  scarce  as  honest  men  ;  yet  you  neither  came 
nor  sent  me  word  that  you  had  altered  your  mind. 

You but  I  had  better  stop,  or  I  shall  work  myself 

up  into  that  vindictive  spirit  which  you  deprecate. 

"  Now  for  a  proof  ol  my  forgiving  disposition.  I 
not  only  shall  meet  you  at  Croxteth  in  perfect  amity, 
but  shall  be  happy  to  take  you  there,  if  my  time  suits 
your  convenience.  I  am  to  be  at  Croxteth  on  Friday 
next,  and  sleep  at  Skipton  on  Thursday  night.  Skip- 
ton,  I  fancy,  is  about  15  miles  from  Farnley,  and  if  you 
will  join  me  there  on  Friday  morning,  I  will  carry 
you  and  your  luggage  safely  to  Croxteth.  You  must, 
however,  break  your  usual  rule,  and  let  me  know 
whether  this  offer  suits  you  or  not.  .  .  .  Don't  talk  to 
me  about  politics — I  have  done  with  them.     If  you 


i822.]  MR.  COBBETT'S   VIEWS.  397 

can  tell  me  anything  respecting  the  Leger — if  you 
have  any  dark  horse  who  is  not  spavined — I  shall 
listen  to  you  with  attention ;  but  as  to  Verona,  the 
Bourbons,  Reform,  Spain,  the  Pirates,  &c.,  &c.,  throw 
them  to  the  dogs  :  I'll  have  none  on't! 

"  Yours,  in  the  true  spirit  of  Christian  feeling, 

"J.  G.  Lambton." 


Wm,  Cobbett  to  Mr.  Fazvkcs  [a  candidate  for 

Parliament}. 

"  1 2th  Nov.,  1822. 

".  .  .  The  ruin  in  this  part  of  the  country  \s  general. 
An  unruined  farmer  is  an  exception.  The  Pitt  system 
seems  destined  to  fulfil  all  my  prophecies  —  even 
those  that  were  thought  the  most  ivild.  Faith !  your 
antagonist  Mr.  Canning  has  his  hands  full.  He  has 
already  discovered  what  it  is  to  negociate  with  a  debt 
of  800  millions  and  a  dead  weight  of  100  rnillions 
hanging  round  the  neck  of  the  country.  This  was 
one  of  the  points  that  Windham  told  me  I  was  mad 
upon.  I  said — you  can  have  neither  war  nor  peace  in 
safety  without  getting  rid  of  this  infernal  debt.  He 
used  to  say — 'let  us  beat  the  French  first.'  I  used  to 
say  that  to  beat  them  with  bank  notes  was  to  beat 
ourselves  in  the  end.  And  thus  it  has  been.  The 
country  becomes  a  poor,  low,  pitiful,  feeble,  cowardly 
thing,  unless  we  get  rid  of  the  debt ;  and  that  is  not 
to  be  got  rid  of  without  a  reform  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  The  conduct  of  the  Lords  has  always 
been  to  me  the  most  surprising  thing.  Terrified  out 
of  their  wits  at  Hunt,*  who  is  really  as  inoffensive  as 
Pistol  or  Bardolph,  and  hugging  to  their  bosoms  the 
Barings,  the  Ricardos  and  all  that  tribe.  .  .  .  How- 
ever, it  is  useless  to  exclaim.  .  .  .  The  war  used  to  be 
called  an  '  eventful  period  ; '  but  this  is  the  eventful 
period  for  England." 

t.*  Henry  Hunt  [1773-1835],  radical^  politician,  commonly  known 
as  "  Orator  Hunt." 


398  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.       [CH.  XV. 


Mr.  Creevcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Croxteth,  Nov.  26,  1822. 

"  Well !  I  found  the  King  *  at  Skipton  before  nine 
on  Friday,  breakfasting  on  his  own  tea,  his  own  sugar, 
liis  own  bread  and  even  his  own  butter — all  brought 
from  Lambton.  However,  the  Monarch  was  very 
amiable,  and  barring  one  volcanic  eruption  against 
the  postboys  for  losing  their  way  within  5  miles  of 
this  house,  our  journey  was  very  agreeable.  .  .  ." 

*'  Dec.  3rd. 

".  .  .  Lord  Hertford  owes  his  blue  ribbon  to  his 
having  purchased  four  seats  in  Parliament  since  his 
father's  death,  and  to  his  avowed  intention  of  dealing 
still  more  largely  in  the  same  commodity.  .  .  .  We  con- 
tinue to  go  on  quite  capitally  in  this  house.  I  never 
saw  Sefton  in  greater  force.  I  wish  you  could  see  the 
manner  of  both  father  and  son  to  the  different  tenants 
we  see  from  time  to  time  on  our  different  shooting  and 
coursing  excursions.  What  a  contrast  to  the  acid  and 
contemptuous  Lambton!  However,  poor  devil,  he 
pays  for  it  pretty  dearly,  and  will  probably  be  a  victim 
to  his  temper,  .  .  .  Lady  Georgiana  [Molyneux] 
amused  me  yesterday  by  telling  me  of  a  conversation 
she  had  with  Lady  Holland,  in  which  the  latter  had 
deplored  my  present  hostility  to  her,  and  had  requested 
Ly.  Georgiana's  assistance  in  discovering  the  cause, 
and  producing  a  reconciliation.  .  .  ." 

"Croxteth,  Dec.  12. 
".  .  .  The  truth  is  that  all  the  Whigs  are  either 
fools  or  rogues  enough  to  believe  that  our  Monarch 
is  really  very  fond  of  them,  and  that  (according  to  the 
angry  Boy  t  who  left  us  yesterday)  if  we,  the  Whigs, 
could  but  arrange  our  matters  between  ourselves,  the 
Sovereign  would  be  happy  to  send  for  us.  _  This  is 
all  he  is  waiting  for;  and  with  reference  to  it,  Lamb- 
ton told  Sefton  in  the  strictest  confidence  that  it  is  of 
vital  importance  to  gain  Brougham's  consent  to  Scarlett 

'  Mr.  Lambton.  t  Mr.  Lambton. 


i822.]  KNOWSLEY   REVISITED.  399 

being  Chancellor,  and  for  Brougham  to  take  the  office 
of  Atty.  Genl. !  .  .  .  You  may  suppose  the  anxiety  of 
the  Earl's  mind  till  he  found  me  for  the  purpose  of 
unburthening  himself  of  this  confidential  communica- 
tion ;  and  having  done  so,  we  indulged  ourselves  in  a 
duet  that  might  have  been  heard  in  the  remotest 
corner  of  the  house.  Is  it  not  perfectly  incredible? 
Lambton  was  in  constant  communication  with  Grey 
whilst  here,  and  (very  judiciously!)  shewed  Sefton 
some  of  his  dispatches  on  this  subject.  .  .  ." 


"Croxtcth,  15th. 

".  .  .  We  all  dined  at  Knowsley  last  night.  The 
new  dining-room  is  opened:  it  is  53  feet  by  n,  and 
such  a  height  that  it  destroys  the  effect  of  all  the  other 
apartments.  .  .  .  You  enter  it  from  a  passage  by  two 
great  Gothic  church-like  doors  the  whole  height  of 
the  room.  This  entrance  is  in  itself  fatal  to  the  efiect. 
Ly.  Derby  (like  herself),  when  I  objected  to  the 
immensity  of  the  doors,  said:  'You've  heard  Genl. 
Grosvenor's  remark  upon  them  have  you  not?  He 
asked  in  his  grave,  pompous  manner — "  Pray  are  those 
great  doors  to  be  opened  for  every  pat  of  butter  that 
comes  into  the  room?'"  At  the  opposite  end  of  the 
room  is  an  immense  Gothic  window,  and  the  rest  of 
the  light  is  given  by  a  sky-light  mountains  high. 
There  are  two  fireplaces ;  and  the  day  we  dined  there, 
there  were  36  wax  candles  over  the  table,  14  on  it, 
and  ten  great  lamps  on  tall  pedestals  about  the  room  ; 
and  yet  those  at  the  bottom  of  the  table  said  it  was 
quite  petrifying  in  that  neighbourhood,  and  the  report 
here  is  that  they  have  since  been  obliged  to  abandon 
it  entirely  from  the  cold.  .  .  .  My  lord  and  my  lady 
were  all  kindness  to  me,  but  only  think  of  their  neither 
knowing  nor  caring  about  Spain  or  France,  nor 
whether  war  or  peace  between  these  two  nations  was 
at  all  in  agitation  ! 

"...   1  must  say  I  never  saw  man  or  woman  live 
more  happily  with  nine  grown  up  children.     It  is  my 
lord  [Derb}^]  who  is  the  great  moving  ])rinciple.  .  . 
What  a  contrast  to  that  poor  victim  of  temper  who 
left  us  last  week!  [Mr.  Lambton]." 


400  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.       [Ch.  XV. 

"  Croxteth,  23rd. 

".  .  .  Brougham  arrived  here  on  Saturday,  on  his 
way — or  rather  out  of  his  way — to  his  nearest  and 
dearest.  ...  Of  domestic  matters,  I  think  his  principal 
article  is  that  Mrs,  Taylor's  niece,  Ly.  Londonderry,* 
has  transferred  her  affections  from  her  lord  to  other 
objects :  in  the  first  instance  to  young  Bloomfield, 
Sir  Benjamin's  son ;  and  since,  to  a  person  of  some- 
what higher  rank,  viz.,  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  and 
that  she  is  now  following  the  latter  lover  to  Peters- 
burgh.  Lady  Holland  is  the  author  of  these  state- 
ments, and  vouches  for  the  truth  of  them. 

''Apropos  to  Lady  Holland,  in  addition  to  all  her 
former  insults  upon  the  town,  she  has  set  up  a  huge 
caty  which  is  never  permitted  to  be  out  of  her  sight, 
and  to  whose  vagaries  she  demands  unqualified  sub- 
mission from  all  her  visitors.  Rogers,  it  seems,  has 
already  sustained  considerable  injury  in  a  personal 
affair  with  this  animal.  Brougham  only  keeps  liim  or 
her  at  arm's  length  by  snuff,  and  Luttrell  has  sent  in  a 
formal  resignation  of  all  further  visits  till  this  odious 
new  favorite  is  dismissed  from  the  Cabinet.  .  .  .  But 
think  of  my  having  so  long  forgot  to  mention  thai 
Brougham  says  many  of  the  best  informed  people  in 
London,  such  as  Dog  Dent  and  others,  are  perfectly 
convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  report  that  dear  Prinney 
is  really  to  marry  Ly.  Elizabeth  Conyngham ;  on 
which  event  the  Earl  here  humorously  observes  that 
the  least  the  King  can  do  for  the  Queen's  family  is  to 
make  Denisonf  'Great  Infant  of  England.'" 

*  Frances  Anne,  only  daughter  and  heiress  of  Sir  Harry  Vane- 
Tempest  of  Wynyard,  Bart. 

t  Lord  Albert  Denison  Conyngham,  3rd  son  of  Elizabeth  Denison, 
1st  Marchioness  of  Conyngham.  He  was  born  in  1805,  and  was 
supposed  to  be  the  son  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  (George  IV.). 


(    401     ) 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

1823-1824, 

Miss  Maria  Copley*  to  Mr.  Crecvey. 

"  Sprotbrough,  January  I3th. 

".  .  .  We  have  had  a  great  deal  of  very  agreeable 
society,  chiefly  composed  of  the  old  ingredients  of 
Grevilles,  Levesons,  Granvilles,  Wortleys,  Bentincks, 
&c. ;  but  they  are  now  all  flown — the  Grevilles  to 
Welbeck,  Ld.  F.  Leveson  to  Madrid,  the  Granvilles 
to  ;other  battues.  .  .  .  Lord  F.  Leveson's  t  going  to 
Madrid  has  surprised  everybody — me  among  others 
who  had  seen  them  together  for  a  length  of  time. 
People  are  inclined  to  think  it  a  proof  of  perfect 
indifference  on  both  sides,  but  at  least  certainly  on 
his.  The  fact  is  that  having,  like  few  other  young 
men,  a  great  aversion  to  being  idle,  he  applied  to 
Canning  for  employment ;  who,  when  this  oppor- 
tunity occurred,  offered  it  to  him,  and  as  it  is  a 
remarkably  interesting  expedition,  Harriet  %  wd.  not 
allow  him  to  refuse  it.  He  will  be  absent  only  six 
weeks. 

"  Lord  F.  Conyngham's  §  appointment  gives  great 
disgust,  and  I  don't  wonder  at  it.  Lord  Alvanley 
calls  him  Canning\\2im.  The  King  is  quite  delighted 
with  his  Secretary  of  State,  and  was  seen  the  other 
day  at  the  Pavilion  w^alking  about  with  his  arm 
round  Canning's  neck. 

*  Married  Lord  Howick  (afterwards  3rd  Earl  Grey)  in  1832. 
t  Second  son  of  ist  Duke  of  Sutherland,  created  Earl  of  Ellesmere 
in  1833,  married  in  1822  Harriet,  daughter  of  Charles  Greville,  Esq. 
X  Lady  Francis  Leveson. 
§  Succeeded  in  1824  as  2nd  Marquess  Conyngham. 


402  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVI. 

"  Two  of  your  friend  Lady  Oxford's  daughters  are 
going  to  be  married — Ly.  Charlotte  to  a  Mr.  Bacon 
and  Lady  Fanny  to  a  Mr.  Cuthbert.  The  last  is  not 
so  certain  as  the  first,  as  somebody  is  to  be  asked  for 
a  consent,  which  I  think  it  probable  that  most  fathers, 
mothers  and  guardians  would  refuse.  It  must  be  a 
bad  speculation  to  take  a  wife  out  of  that  school. 
Mr.  Warrender*  is  going  to  marry  Lady  Julia  Mait- 
land  at  last,  and  Sir  George  is  to  be  very  magnificent. 
.  .  .  Your  friend,  Lady  Glengall,  is  in  London,  giving 
ecarte  parties  every  night  to  the  great  detriment  of 
society  in  general,  and  annoyance  of  the  3'oung  ladies 
in  particular.  If  things  should  go  on  en  empirant  this 
spring,  I  prophesy  a  meeting  among  that  much 
injured  race.  .  .  .  The  Beau  t  has  been  staying  at  the 
Pavilion  :  he  is  in  the  progress  of  telling  charming 
stories  of  the  Congress.  1  would  give  myjears  to 
hear  them.  He  is  very  much  recovered,  but  looks 
older  and  thinner  from  his  illness.  I  hear  thro'  a 
secret  channel  that  Ly.  Granville  had  a  great  deal  to 
say  in  Lord  Clanwilliam's  getting  the  situation  at 
Berlin.  Mr.  Canning's  diplomatic  dependents  are 
amazed  at  such  a  thing  having  slipped  through  their 
fingers.  It  is  certainly  more  disinterested  than  Lord 
F.  C[onyngham]'s,  and  does  him  more  credit  in  the 
eyes  of  the  world.  .  .  .  Write,  and  tell  me  you  are  not 
bored  to  death  by  such  a  letter  from  a  young  lad}'." 

"  Sprotbrough,  Saturday,  1823. 

"  Dear  Mr.  Creevey, 

".  .  .  The  Taylors  are  still  with  us  and  we 
are  within  an  ace  of  a  schism  about  politics  at  least 
three  times  a  day.  Though  I  cordially  agree  with 
you  about  the  Three  Gentlemen  of  Verona,  I  cannot 
think  your  friend  Mr.  Brougham's  speech  prudent. 
At  this  time,  when  one  must  sincerely  wish  peace  to 
be  preserved  in  Europe,  it  has  a  most  inflammator}'' 
tendency.  1  will  not,  however,  dare  to  say  a  syllable 
about  politics  to  you :  a  safer  line  of  conduct  for  me 

*  Succeeded  his  brother  as  5th  baronet  of  Lochend. 

t  The  Duke  of  Wellington,  who,  when  Castlereagh  committed 
suicide  in  1822,  had  been  appointed  Plenipotentiary  at  the  Congress 
of  Verona. 


1S33-24-]  A   YOUNG   LADY'S    LETTERS.  405 

is  to  agree  with  Michael  [Taylor].  I  am  painfully 
striving  to  inform  myself  about  Spain,  and  have  just 
read  Blaquiere's  book.  Coiniiic  il  fait  dc  la  prose.  I 
never  read  so  dull  a  book  made  out  of  so  interesting 
a  subject.  Las  Casas'  book  is  the  most  delicious 
effusion  of  a  sentimental  old  French  twaddle  that 
ever  Vv^as  read ;  but  as  far  as  it  goes  appears  to  be 
very  authentic.  He  paints  Bonaparte  in  the  brightest 
colours,  and  evidently  leaves  out  all  spots  and  dark 
shades,  or  softens  and  explains  them  away,  so  that 
nothing  remains  but  the  most  admirable  hero  dc  roman 
that  ever  existed.  ...  I  am  in  horror  at  the  thought 
of  the  King's  dying.  In  the  first  place  (though  I  am 
no  respecter  of  his),  I  think  he  does  as  well  for  us,  or 
better  than  the  Duke  of  York  :  secondo — we  should 
have  a  horrid  radical  Parliament  chosen  :  terzo — 
London  wd.  be  spoilt  this  year.  There  speaks  the  young 
lady!" 

Mr.  Crccvcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Feby.  4,  1823." 

".  .  .  Who  should  arrive  at  Brooks's  last  night 
fresh  from  Paris  but  Og  King  of  Bashan?*  You 
never  saw  a  fellow  in  such  a  state  of  fury  against 
Cochon.t  He  is  for  a  declaration  of  war  this  very 
afternoon  in  his  friend  Canning's  speech.  He  com- 
plains bitterly  that  we  are  none  of  us  up  to  the  true 
mark :  that  if  we  would  but  give  Spain  a  lift  now 
before  the  Russians  and  Prussians  come  to  be 
quartered  in  France  (which  he  is  perfectly  sure  is  part 
of  the  present  plan)  that  the  Bourbons  wd.  not  be  on 
their  throne  3  months.  .  .  ." 

"  House  of  Commons,  J  past  3. 
"Just  heard  the  King's  Speech,  and  upon  my  word 
the  part  about  Spain  is  much  better  than  I  expected. 
I  don't  see  what  Brougham  is  to  do  with  his  amend- 
ment after  it.     The  first  sentence  relating  to  Spain  % 

*  The  2nd  Lord  Kensington, 
t  Louis  XVI I L 

X  "  Faithful  to  the  principles  which  his  ^L^jesty  has  promulgated  to 
the  world  as  constituting  the  rule   of  his  conduct,  his   Majesty  has 


404  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.       [Ch.  XVI. 

is  a  regular  spat  on  the  face  to  the  Villains  of  Verona, 
and  the  whole  certainly  more  in  favor  of  Spain  than 
of  France." 

"  Feby.  5,  Brooks's. 

".  .  .  Well !  I  had  no  difficulty  in  making  Brougham 
prefer  the  King's  speech  last  night  to  his  own  projected 
amendment,  and  to  change  his  regrets  into  warm 
admiration.  You  will  see,  however,  that  he  by  no 
means  abandoned  his  plan  of  castigation  of  the  Royal 
and  Imperial  scoundrels  of  Verona.  ...  So  faithful 
a  picture  of  villains — portrait  after  portrait — was 
never  produced  by  any  artist  before.  If  anything 
could  add  to  the  gratification  the  Allied  Sovereigns 
must  have  received  had  they  been  present,  it  would 
be  from  the  way  in  which  our  otherwise  discordant 
fellows  lapped  up  this  truly  British  cordial  like 
mother's  milk.  Peel  could  scarcely  make  himself 
heard,  3^et  he  went  further  than  the  Speech,  and  gave 
an  unequivocal  opinion  in  favor  of  Spain  against 
France  ;  but  Liverpool  went  still  further,  and  shewed 
clearly  that  he  is  in  earnest  in  trying  to  keep  the 
peace — that  he  thinks  there  is  some  little,  little  chance 
of  it ;  and  further,  he  clearly  thinks  that  if  war  is  once 
begun,  we  shall  not  be  able  to  keep  out  of  it." 

"  Brooks's,  14th  Feb. 

"  I  dined  here  last  night  much  more  agreeably, 
tho'  not  so  cheaply,  with  Thanet,  Brougham,  Kensing- 
ton, &c.,  &c.  Every  day's  experience  impresses  me 
more  strongly  with  the  great  superiority  of  Thanet 
over  every  politician  that  I  see.  He  is  gone  to  Paris 
this  morning  to  add,  as  every  one  expects,  ;^io,ooo 
more  to  his  already  great  losses  at  play.  And  yet  he 
seems  perfectly  convinced  of  his  almost  approaching 
beggary  under  all  the  overpowering  difficulties  in 
which  land  is  now  involved  ! 

"Yesterday  morning  Lord  Sefton  drove  me  to  the 
Freemason's  Tavern,  the  great  room  of  which  is  fitted 
up  as  a  court  for  the  tribunal  which  sits  in  judgment 

declined  being  a  party  to  any  proceedings  at  Verona  which  could  be 
deemed  an  interference  in  the  internal  concerns  of  Spain  on  the  part 
of  foreign  powers." 


1823-24.]  CRITICISM    UPON    CANNING.  405 

upon  Lord  Portsmouth's  sanity  or  insanity.  Cer- 
tainly, never  was  a  more  disgraceful  thing  than  the 
Chancellor's  conduct  on  this  occasion — to  put  the 
property  of  the  family  to  the  expense  of  ;^40,ooo, 
which  it  is  said  it  will  undoubtedly  cost,  rather  than 
decide  this  point  himself,  which  every  one  who  has 
seen  Lord  Portsmouth  has  long  since  decided.*  .  .  . 

''  The  publick  functionaries  in  Ireland  are  coming 
to  close  quarters.  Wellesley  has  dismissed  at  a 
moment's  warning  Sir  Charles  Vernon,  the  Chamber- 
lain, and  two  others — men  wht>  had  held  their  situations 
about  the  Court  for  years.  Their  offence  was  dining 
at  a  Beefsteak  Club  last  week,  where  Lord  Chancellor 
Manners  was  likewise,  and  drinking  as  a  toast : — 
'  Success  to  the  export  trade  of  Ireland,  and  may  Lord 
Wellesley  be  the  first  article  exported  ! '  f  .  .  . 

"  I  never  saw  a  fellow  look  more  uncomfortable 
than  Canning.!  Independent  of  the  difficulty  of  the 
times,  he  is  surrounded  by  perfidy  quite  equal  to  his 
own.  People  in  office  are  in  loud  and  undisguised 
hostility  to  him  :  it  may  be  heard  at  all  corners  of  the 
streets.  I  never  saw  such  a  contrast  as  between  the 
manners  of  ministerial  men  even  to  him,  and  what  it 
used  to  be  to  Castlereagh.  Business  begins  in  earnest 
on. Monday,  and  I  must  launch  my  'supply'  on  that 
or  some  early  day,  if  my  nerves  are  equal  to  it ;  but  I 
find  them  fail  me  more  and  more  every  day," 

"Brooks's,  2ist  F^eby. 

".  .  .  Well !  we  got  into  a  fine  mes_s  the  night 
before  last  upon  our  Joe's  motion, §  but  Canning  did 
what  he  could  for  us  by  his  ill-timed  and  unnecessary 
vehemence  and  violence.  His  own  people  already 
pronounce  that  his  irritability  must  prove  injurious 
to  him,  and  the  loss  of  Castlereagh's  composure  and 
good  manners  is  deplored  in  a  manner  not  very 
flattering  to  his  successor." 

*  The  3rd  Earl  of  Portsmouth.  The  enquiry  lasted  17  days,  and 
the  jury  pronounced  him  to  be  insane. 

t  The  Marquess  Wellesley  was  Lord- Lieutenant  of  Ireland  at  the 
time. 

X  Who  was  now  leader  of  the  Mouse  of  Commons. 

§  Joseph  Hume. 


40(5  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVI. 

"  25th. 

".  .  .  Yesterday  I  spent  a  very  amusing  hour  with 
Sefton  at  the  Opera  House,  seeing  the  niaitre  dc  ballet 
manceuvre  about  $0  figurantes  ior  the  approaching  new 
ballet  oi  Alfred.  .  .  .  This  done,  we  went  to  our  ozun 
playhouse,  where  we  saw  ist  a  pas  de  trois  between 
Wilson,  Hobhouse  and  Canning,  and  then  3.  pas  dcdeux 
between  Brougham  and  Canning.  .  .  .  After  the  House 
1  dined  at  Sefton's  en  faniillc,  and  to-day  I  would  have 
you  to  know  I  dine  with^the  Hereditary  Earl  Marshal 
of  England,  Premier  Duke,  <&€.,  alias  Barney,  alias 
Scroope ! " 

"  4th  March. 

"...  I  dined  on  Saturday  at  Lord  King's :  the 
party — Duke  and  Duchess  of  Somerset ;  Heber  the 
Tory  and  classical  member  for  Oxford ;  George 
Phillips  the  patriotic  and  fasionable  savant  from 
Manchester;  Sir  —  Johnson,*  a  powdered  beau  of  the 
first  order  and  ci-devant  Indian  judge ;  Lord  Clare, 
Lavallette  Bruce,  George  Fortescue  and  Bennet. 
Was  there  ever  such  a  hash  ?  However,  the  day, 
contrary  to  my  expectation,  was  very  well.  I  got  on 
extreemly  well  with  Mrs.  Somerset.t  You  know  she 
is  the  false  devil  who  robbed  her  brother  Archie  of 
his  birthright." 


Miss  Maria  Copley  to  Mr.  Crccvey. 

"  Sprotbrough,  March  6th,  1823. 

"  Our  friend  the  Beau  does  not  think  Ferdinand's 
life  worth  a  long  purchase  after  the  French  army  enter 
Spain.  He  says  that  they — the  French — will  meet 
with  no  more  resistance  in  marching  to  Madrid  than 
he  does  in  going  to  the  Ordnance  Office.  Two  inches 
of  cold  steel  will  do  his  business  very  shortly.  .  .  . 
Lord    Francis    Leveson   (at   Madrid)  is   of  the   same 

*  Sir    John    Johnson,    Superintendent-General    and    Inspector- 
General  of  Indian  affairs  in  British  North  America. 

The  first  wife  of  the  nth  Duke  of  Somerset,   Lady  Charlotte 
Douglas-Hamilton,  daughter  of  the  9th  Duke  of  Hamilton. 


1823-24.]  A   YOUNG    LADY'S    LETTERS.  40/ 

opinion  as  to  Ferdinand's  prospect  of  a  long  reign.  .  .  . 
I  hope  7ve  shall  not  interfere,  as  it  must  increase  both 
our  debt  and  our  difficulties.  .  .  .  Pray  what  do  they 
think  at  Michael's*  of  O'Meara?  I  was  malicious 
enough  to  talk  of  nothing  but  the  Quarterly  Review 
last  time  that  I  saw  Mrs.  Taylor,  notwithstanding  that 
she  pertinaciously  asserted  that  she  had  not  read  a 
line  of  it.t  She  made  a  determination  not  to  believe 
one  word  of  it  till  she  saw  those  notes  at  Murray's, 
with  a  sight  of  which  I  assured  her  she  might  be 
gratified  immediately.  .  .  .  <J  am  curious  to  see 
O'Meara's  defence.  How  he  is  to  exculpate  himself 
from  the  many  chanyes  of  double  dealing  baffles  my 
poor  imagination.  He  must  be  a  sad,  shuffling,  dirty 
wretch. 

"  A  still  more  difficult  riddle  for  me  to  solve  is 
3'our  friend  Mr.  Brougham.  Why  does  he  make  such 
love  to  Canning? — Why  is  he  in  none  of  your 
divisions  ? — Why  is  he  in  astonishment  at  the  small 
demand  of  Ministers  ? — Is  it  catalepsy  ?  All  your 
good  humour  and  civility  make  the  debates  very 
flat.  .  .  .  Allow  me  to  set  you  right  upon  a  point 
which  nearly  concerns  the  honour  of  my  family. 
Heaven  forbid  that  Miss  Lemon  should  have  a 
daughter.  Her  sister  married  a  Sir  Something 
Davy.+  Another  time  be  more  cautious  of  taking 
away  the  credit  of  an  unfortunate  damsel  by  a  stroke 
of  your  pen— particularly  in  a  letter  to  her  cousin  !  " 


Mr.  Creevcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"I^Lirch  nth. 

"  I  send  you  herewith  Brougham's  dispatch  which 
I  received  j'esterda}^  1  had  charity  enough  for  him 
not  to  shew  it  to  any  one  but  Sefton,  and  he  quite 
agrees  with  me  that  he  is  mad.     His  lunacy,  you  may 

*  Michael  Angelo  Taylor's. 

t  Crokcr's  article  on  O'Meara's  book  appeared  in  the  Qi(arter]y  in 
I'ebruary,  1823.  At  Mrs.  Taylor's  Whig  and  Radical  salon  O'Meara's 
narrative  had  been  accepted  as  gospel,  and  Ministers  were  roundlv 
execrated  for  the  supposed  oppressive  treatment  of  their  captive. 

X   Sir  John  Davie.  8th  baronet  of  Crcedy,  Dc\on. 

2    F 


408  THE   CREEVEY  PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVI. 

plainly  see,  is  to  be  in  power.  He  cannot  endure  for 
a  moment  anything  or  any  man  he  thinks  can  by 
possibility  obstruct  his  march.  He  has  himself  entirely 
spiked  his  guns  in  the  House  of  Commons;  he  has 
put  it  at  Canning's  feet,  and  then  he  is  raving  in  the 
country  that  Hume  should  presume  to  open  his  mouth 
without  his  (Brougham's)  permission." 

There  is  little  apparent  madness  in  Brougham's 
letter  referred  to  above.  On  the  contrary,  it  seems 
brimful  of  common  sense,  chiefly  referring  to  a  pro- 
jected attack  on  the  Church  of  England  by  Joseph 
Hume,  but  it  was  not  militant  enough  for  Creevey. 

Henry  Brougham,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey  [enclosed  in 

above']. 

"  Durham,  Saturday. 

".  .  .  As  to  Joseph,  I  hope  it  may  do  good.  I 
know  that  things  may  with  safety  be  brought  on  by 
him,  which  in  any  other  man's  hands  wd.  do  harm. 
Therefore  I  always  thought  the  attack  on  the  Church 
was  safer  in  his  hands  than  in  any  others.  But  I  fear  he 
may  throw  away  a  great  case,  and  {except your  testimony) 
I  see  nothing  in  the  other  night's  debate  to  change 
this  opinion.  Don't  let  us  deceive  ourselves.  There 
are  millions — and  among  them  very  powerful  and  very 
respectable  people — who  will  go  a  certain  way  with 
us,  but  will  be  quite  staggered  by  our  going  pell-mell 
at  it.  The  people  of  this  country  are  not  prepared  to 
give  up  the  Church.  For  one — I  am  certainly  not ; 
and  my  reason  is  this.  There  is  a  vast  mass  of  religion 
in  the  country,  shaped  in  various  forms  and  burn- 
ing with  various  degrees  of  heat — from  regular  luke- 
warmness  to  Methodism.  Some  Church  establishment 
this  feeling  must  have  ;  and  I  am  quite  clear  that  a  much- 
reformed  Ch.  of  Engd.  is  the  safest  form  in  which 
such  an  establishment  can  exist.  It  is  a  quiet  and 
somewhat  lazy  Church :  certainly  not  a  persecuting 
one.  Clip  its  wings  of  temporal  power  (which  it 
unceasingly  uses  in  behalf  of  a  political  slavery)  *  and 

*  I.e.  against  Reform. 


1823-24.]         TWO   VERY   DIFFERENT   DUKES.  409 

purify  its  more  glaring  abuses,  and  you  are  far  better 
off  than  with  a  fanatical  Church  and  Dominion  of 
Saints,  like  that  of  the  17th  century;  or  no  Church  at 
all  and  a  Dominion  of  Sects,  like  that  of  America.  .  .  . 
The  Irish  case  is  a  great  and  an  extreme  one,  and  by 
keeping  it  strictly  on  its  ozun  grounds  and  abstaining 
from  any  topics  common  to  both  Churches,  a  body  blow 
may  be  given.  But  if  any  means  are  afforded  to  the 
Ch.  and  its  friends  here  of  making  common  cause  with 
the  Irish  fellows,  I  fear  you  convert  a  most  powerful 
case  into  an  ordinary  one,  which  must  fall.  ...  I  write 
this  in  court,  and  in  some  haste.  Let  me  hear  whether 
I  am  still  in  the  wrong." 


Mr.  Creevcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"nth  March. 
"^1  "I  never  told  you  that  I  caught  the  Beau  one  day 
last  week  just  mounting  his  horse,  so  I  went  up  and 
stopt  him,  and  had  a  very  hearty  hand-shaking.  ...  I 
never  saw  a  man's  looks  so  altered.  He  is  a  perfect 
shadow,  and  as  old  looking  as  the  ark.  .  .  .  There  must 
have  been  an  amusing  scene  between  him  and  Slice  * 
this  day  week  in  Ly.  Salisbury's  box  at  the  Opera. 
Slice  made  a  long  oration  to  him  against  French 
aggression  upon  Spain,  and  ended  with  requiring  to 
know  Wellington's  sentiments  upon  the  probable 
result.  The  Beau  contented  fiimself  by  replying — 'It 
won't  succeed.'  Slice  would  not  be  put  off  this  way, 
and  made  a  second  harangue,  ending  with  the  same 
demand  of  an  official  opinion  ;  but  our  Beau  again  wd. 
not  advance  further  than — '  It  won't  succeed.' " 

"17th. 
".  .  .  Thanet  has  won  ;^40,ooo  in  one  night  at  Paris. 
He  broke  the  bank  at  the  Salon  tivicc  :  the  question  is 
— will  he  bring  any  of  this  money  home  with  him  ?     I 
take  it  for  granted  notr 

"April  iSth. 

"  You  never  saw  such  confusion  and  consternation 
as  was  produced  in  the  Ministerial  row  by  Burdett's 
speech  [on  Catholic  emancipation].  ...  In  the  midst 

♦  H.R.H.  the  Duke  of  Gloucester. 


410         '  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVI. 

of  the  debate  arose  that  alarming  episode  between 
Brougham  and  Canning.  .  .  .  Brougham  was  laying 
about  him  upon  Canning's  'truckling'  to  Eldon  for 
his  late  admission  into  the  Cabinet,*  when  the  latter 
sprung  up  in  the  greatest  fury  saying — 'That  is 
FALSE ! '  Upon  this  we  had  the  devil  to  pay  for  near 
an  hour,  and  Wilson  had  at  last  the  credit  of  settling 
it 'by  a  speech  of  very  great  merit,  and  to  the  satis- 
faction of  all  parties.  Brougham,  I  think,  was  wrong 
to  begin  with;  he  was  speaking  under  the  impression 
produced  upon  him  by  Canning's  blackguard  observa- 
tion to  Folkestone  the  night  before,  viz.  that '  if  he  had 
truckled  to  the  Bourbons,  as  stated  by  Folkestone,  at 
all  events  he  would  never  truckle  to  him.'  Brougham 
was  going  on  like  a  madman,  but  Canning  was  much 
worse  in  his  rage,  and  in  his  violation  of  the  rules 
of  the  House.  .  .  .  The  House  generally  was  decidedly 
against  Canning,  as  it  had  been  the  night  before  upon 
his  passion  and  low-lived  tirade  against  Folkestone, 
saying  'he  spoke  with  all  the  contortions  of  the  Sibyl 
without  her  inspiration.'  .  .  .  In  short.  Canning's  temper 
is  playing  the  devil  with  him,  as  I  always  felt  sure  it 
would." 

"April  2 1  St. 

"  On  Saturday  I  dined  at  Harry  Martin's,  with  the 
Admiral  and  his  wife.  Lord  Erskine,  old  Alexander  the 
Master  in  Chancery,  &c.,  &c.  Poor  Erskine  at  last 
looks  very  old  and  forlorn,  tho'  his  etherial  spark  is 
by  no  means  extinct.  Somebody  was  talking  about 
old  Cochon'sf  powers  of  eating,  upon  which  Erskine 
said  he  wished  '  the  damned  scoundrel  wd.  eat  his 
words'  .  .  .  He  talks  for  both  Spaniards  and  Greeks 
with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  youth. ' 

"28th. 

".  .  .  Ward  (John  William)  |  met  me  in  the  street 
yesterday,  and  begged  me,  after  all  his  estrangement 
from  me,  to  turn  about  with  him,  as  he  wished  much 
to  have  some  talk;  and  so,  as  I  declined,  he  turned 

*  Implying  that  Canning,  who  had  always  advocated  emancipation 
of  the  Catholics,  had  consented,  as  the  price  of  his  admission,  not  to 
press  the  question. 

t  Louis  XVIII. 

X  Created  Earl  of  Dudley  in  1827. 


1823-24.]  THE    DUKE   OF   BUCKINGHAM.  41I 

about  himself,  putting"  his  arm  thro'  mine;  and  his  dis- 
course was  that  the  Government  must  be  strangled — 
that  the  Opposition,  with  the  least  management  in  the 
world,  must  destroy  them — that  Peel  was  lower  and 
lower  every  day,  quite  incompetent,  and  that  Canning, 
with  all  his  talents  and  superiority,  had  no  support — 
that  Peel  had  all  the  Tories,  and  Canning  no  one  of 
any  party  with  him.  A  pleasant  statement  this  to  be 
made  by  a  man  who  calls  Canning  his  master,  or  at 
least  who  has  called  him  so.  .  .  .  Sefton  and  I  were 
walking  in  the  streets  two  days  ago,  when  we  saw  my 
Lady  Holland's  carriage  standing  at  a  shop  door;  so 
Sefton  said — '  Now's  your  time !  go  and  get  it  over,' 
So  I  did  :  I  put  my  head  into  the  carriage  as  if  nothing 
had  happened — shook  hands  and  cracked  my  jokes  as 
usual.  ...  So  when  I  left  her  she  squeezed  Sefton's 
hand  with  the  greatest  tenderness  and  said — 'Nothing 
could  be  better  done!'  .  .  . 

"  Og  *  told  me  a  story  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham 
which  Canning  had  told  him  in  confidence,  and  which 
ought  to  be  preserved  to  perpetuate  the  base,  intrigu- 
ing spirit  of  this  genuine  noble  Grenville.  .  .  .  Upon 
Castlereagh's  death  this  said  Duke,  altho'  Canning  and 
he  had  never  been  on  very  good  terms,  wrote  the  most 
nauseous  complimentary  letter  to  Canning,  taking  for 
granted  the  Government  would  never  let  so  distin- 
guished a  statesman  leave  the  country,!  and  urging 
him  b}^  all  he  owed  to  his  country  to  accept  the  offer 
when  made  to  him.  Canning  shewed  this  letter  to 
Kensington  at  the  time,  convulsed  with  laughter  at  its 
style  and  mean  contents.  Not  content  with  this,  the 
Duke  wrote  another  letter  to  Lord  Morlcy,  still  more 
extravagant  in  Canning's  praises,  w^ell  knowing  the 
latter  was  sure  to  see  the  letter,  hoping  Canning  would 
not  run  any  risque  of  serving  his  country  by  claims 
made  for  any  of  his  friends,  for  that,  when  once 
Minister,  all  would  be  at  his  feet. 

"Well — upon  Canning's  first  interview  with  Lord 
Liverpool  after  his  acceptance  of  office,  the  latter  said 
— 'What  is  to  become  of  India?'  to  which  Canning 
replied  it  was  an  appointment  to  which  he  was  quite 

*  Lord  Kensington. 

t  Canning  had  been  appointed  Governor  General  of  India. 


412  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVI. 

indifferent,  the  only  object  he  had  at  heart  being  an 
arrangement  for  putting  Huskisson  in  a  high  and 
responsible  official  situation.  Upon  which  Liverpool 
said  he  knew  the  Speaker  *  was  desirous  of  going  to 
India,  and  if  Canning  would  see  and  sound  the 
Directors — if  they  were  agreeable  to  appoint  him 
Governor  General,  then  Wynne  f  might  be  placed  in 
the  chair  and  Huskisson  have  the  Board  of  Controul. 
Canning  accordingly  saw  the  Directors,  but  tho'  they 
were  very  desirous  of  Wynne  being  removed  from  the 
Board  of  Controul,  as  being  perfectly  inefficient,  still 
they  had  the  greatest  possible  objections  to  the  Speaker 
as  Governor  General.  However,  Huskisson's  appoint- 
ment was  so  very  agreeable  to  them,  that  at  a  second 
conference  they  struck.  Wynne,  who  hitherto  had 
shown  no  reluctance  to  this  arrangement,  being  now 
called  upon  for  its  execution,  declared  his  fixed  deter- 
mination not  to  give  up  the  Board  of  Controul  unless 
the  Duke  of  Buckingham  had  that  office,  or  was  one  of 
the  Secretaries  of  State,  and  of  course  in  the  Cabinet. 
This  claim  being  universally  scouted,  all  was  at  an 
end." 

"Mays,  1823. 

"...  I  dined  at  Hughes' |  on  Thursday — 17  or  18 
people — crowded  and  dull  as  be  damned.  But  then 
the  footmen  had  such  cloaths — such  rich  laced  waist- 
coats— such  beautiful  new  silk  stockings  and  silver 
buckles !  .  .  .  My  Lord  Lansdowne  was  affable  be- 
yond measure  yesterday.  He  has  had  a  special 
messenger  from  Marshal  Soult,  offering  him  in  the 
first  instance,  and  before  any  one  else,  his  Murillos, 
taken  by  him  when  in  Spain,  and  only  asking  as  the 
price  of  them  one  hundred  thousand  pounds!  My 
lord  said  Soult  had  shown  them  to  him  when  he 
was  last  in  Paris,  and  certainly  they  were  the  finest 
things  ever  seen — great  altar-pieces,  &c.  ...  I  have 
been  to  look  at  the  Queen's  trial  by  Hayter,  and 
never  was  1  more  disappointed — a  regular  daub — and 
yet  I  find  myself  singular  in  this  opinion  so  far." 

*  Charles  Manners  Sutton,  created  Viscount  Canterbury  in  1835, 
died  in  1845. 

t  The  Right  Hon.  C.  W.  Williams  Wynn. 

X  Mr.  Hughes  of  Kinmel,  afterwards  created  Lord  Dinorben. 


1823-24-]  SOCIAL  SCHEMING.  413 


'•■  6th. 

"  I  really  had  a  most  agreeable  dinner  at  Sam 
Whitbread's  brewery  on  Saturday.  We  sat  down  22, 
I  think.  Sam  and  William  both  behaved  as  well  as 
could  be.  .  .  .  The  entertainment  of  the  day  to  me 
was  going  over  the  brewery  after  dinner  by  gas- 
light. A  stable  brilliantly  illuminated,  containing 
ninety  horses  worth  50  or  60  guineas  apiece  upon  an 
average,  is  xi  sight  to  be  seen  nowhere  but  in  this 
'tight  little  island.'  The  beauty  and  amiability  of 
the  horses  was  quite  affecting;  such  as  were  lying 
down  we  favored  vv^ith  sitting  upon — four  or  five  of 
us  upon  a  horse.  .  .  ." 

"  May  9th. 

".  .  .  Yesterday  I  dined  at  Og's  * — his  first  great 
state  dinner  and  new  French  cook,  just  imported  ;  our 
company  being  Jockey  of  Norfolk,t  Althorpe,  Bennet, 
Lambton,  Ferguson,  Titchfield,  my  lady  [Kensing- 
ton], two  daughters  and  two  sons,  and  1  assure  you 
we  had  a  most  jolly  day  of  it.  .  .  .  At  night,  Bennet 
and  I  went  to  Lady  Derby's,  and  certainly  an  uglier 
set  of  old  harridans  I  never  beheld  in  all  my  life.  .  .  . 
Humbug  Leopold  |  and  Bore  Slice  §  were  there. 
Lady  Sefton  and  I  sat  together  to  quiz  the  whole  set, 
of  which  none  were  ever  more  worthy.  To-day  I 
dined  at  Lord  King's,  and  there  is  the  devil  to  do 
about  Lady  Jersey  wanting  to  get  Brougham  not 
to  dine  there,  but  to  dine  with  her  to  meet  Prince 
d'Arenberg,  who  wants  particularly  to  meet  Brougham. 
The  latter  tells  Lady  Jersey  that  as  Mrs.  Brougham 
dines  at  Ld.  King's,  he  can't  let  her  go  there  alone ; 
so  'Sister  Sally'  writes  to  Mrs.  Brougham  to  beg 
as  a  particular  favor  that  she  will  dine  at  Lady  King's 
without  Brougham.  Mrs.  B.  replies  upon  Sally,  in  a 
dispatch  of  four  sides  of  paper,  that  she  can't  presume 
to  do  so — that  she  knows  full  well  she  never  is  asked 

*  Lord  Kensington's. 

t  Referring  to  the  12th  Duke  under  the  nickname  usually  given  to 
the  nth  Duke. 

X  Chosen  King  of  the  Belgians  in  1831. 
§  H.R.H.  the  Duke  of  Gloucester. 


4-14  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVI. 

anywhere  but  on  account  of  Mr.  Brougham,  and  that 
she  can't  think  of  incurring  the  odium  of  going  any- 
where without  him.  .  .  ." 

"loth  May. 

".  .  .  As  I  walked  up  to  Lord  King's  door  yester- 
day, up  drove  Brougham's  carriage,  and  in  it  was 
Mrs.  Brougham  alone.  So  I  handed  her  out,  dressed 
like  an  interesting  villager,  all  in  white,  with  a  wreath 
of  roses  round  her  temples,  and  she  made  Brougham's 
apologies  to  Lady  King  for  iinavoidable  absence  on 
account  of  business;  so  it  was  all  very  well,  and  I 
complimented  her  upon  her  powers  of  face.  I  sat 
next  to  her  at  dinner,  and  her  languishing  was  really 
beyond  all  bearing." 

"  May  12. 

".  .  .  Og  has  been  down  to  Canning  at  Gloucester 
Lodge.  .  .  .  The  object  of  his  visit  was  to  tender  his 
son's  resignation  of  his  seat  in  Parliament,  the  said 
son  having  voted  with  Burdett  on  Tuesday,  altho'  his 
seat  was  given  him  by  Canning.  The  latter  said  he 
had  observed  Edwardes  go  out  in  the  division ;  but 
behaved  very  handsomely  indeed  about  it — said  he 
was  a  young  one  and  might  think  differently  in 
future,  and,  in  short,  desired  he  might  have  his  head 
and  do  as  he  liked  for  some  time  longer.  But  Og 
observed  there  was  no  chance  of  his  mending,  for 
that  his  mother  was  in  his  confidence,  and  he  had 
entrusted  to  her  his  decided  opinion  against  the 
Government." 

'*  June  3rd. 

".  .  .  My  visit  to  Stoke  Farm  has  been  perfect.  .  .  . 
As  a  place,  it  has  no  other  merit  than  that  of  having 
Windsor  Castle  full  in  front  of  it,  distant  3  miles. 
It  is  on  a  dead  flat,  if  not  in  a  hollow.  It  was  Sefton's 
first  residence  30  years  ago,  during  which  period  he 
told  me  he  had  spent  ,^40,000  on  it,  and  he  adds  it 
may  now  be  worth  from  ;^6,ooo  to  ;/rio,ooo.  .  .  ." 

"  24th. 
".  .  .  On  Monday,  after  dining  at  Sefton's,  I  went 
to    Lad}^   Jersey's.      Her   parties  are    not  nearly   so 
numerous  as  they  used  to  be,  and  of  course  they  are 


1823-24.]  TITTLE-TATTLE.  415 

SO  much  the  worse,  because  they  were  never  too 
crowded.  .  .  .  While  1  was  talking  to  Ly.  Jersey, 
Humbug  Leopold  interrupted  us,  so  she  sent  me  a 
message  by  her  '  brother  Brougham '  to  come  to  her 
next  Monday,  and  stay  and  be  one  of  the  supper 
click,  which  always  terminates  these  evenings.  .  .  . 
I  suppose  you  know  Ly.  Elizabeth  Conyngham's 
marriage  with  Lord  Burford  *  is  off.  He  became  so 
unmannerly  and  cross  that  the  lad}^  sent  him  a  letter 
of  dismissal  last  Saturday.  .  .  .  Here  is  the  town  in 
a  mutiny  at  the  King  giving  Lord  Salisbury's  blue 
ribbon  to  Lord  Bath,  quite  unknown  to  any  of  the 
Ministers.  /  am  delighted,  because  Lord  Bath  is 
the  man  who  said  that  if  he  had  seen  Bergami  and 
the  late  Queen  in  bed  together  it  would  not  alter  his 
vote  against  the  Bill  that  was  to  crush  her." 

"July  iS,  1S23. 

"...  1  had  really  a  charming  da}'  at  Roehampton 
yesterday.  It  is  quite  a  superb  villa  or  house,  with 
500  acres  of  beautiful  ground  about  it,  and  all  Rich- 
mond Park  appearing  to  belong  to  it.  What  a  con- 
trast between  Lady  Duncannon  and  her  sister  Lady 
Jersey  !  The  quietness  and  retiredness  of  the  former. 
She  seems,  however,  very  merry  and  very  happy  with 
her  nine  white-haired  children,  some  of  them  very 
pretty.  .  .  ." 

"  Stoke  Farm  [Lord  Sefton's],  25tli  July. 

".  .  .  My  life  here  is  a  most  agreeable  one.  I  am 
much  the  earliest  riser  in  the  House,  and  have  above 
two  hours  to  dispose  of  before  breakfast,  which  is  at 
eleven  o'clock  or  even  later.  Then  I  live  with  myself 
again  till  about  3,  when  the  ladies  and  I  ride  for  3 
hours  or  so.  .  .  .  We  dine  at  \  past  seven,  and  the 
critics  would  say  not  badly.  We  drink  in  great 
moderation — walk  out,  all  of  us,  before  tea,  and  then 
crack  jokes  and  fiddle  till  about  h  past  12  or  i.  .  .  .  U 
you  w^ant  any  London  scandal,  there  is  a  shop  at 
present  which  is  said  to  surpass  what  Devonshire 
House  ever  was.  The  receiving  house  is  [crascd'\ — 
the  principal  ladies  Mrs.  V L ,  3'oung  Duchess 

*  Afterwards  9lh  Duke  of  St.  Albans. 


4l6  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.       [Ch.  XVI. 

of    R ,    Lady    E V ,   Lady    C P- 


—  the    men,    young    Lister,    Geo.    Anson,    Francis 
Russell,  &c.,  &c." 

"nth  Feb.,  1824. 

"...  I  dined  yesterday  at  Vesuvius  Kinnaird's,* 
and  such  a  mixture  was  never  before  got  together — 
Sir  Francis  Burdett  and  Sir  Charles  Flint,  Lavelette 
Bruce,  and  Lord  Fitzroy  Somerset,!  Mr.  Creevey  and 
Sir  George  Warrender — and,  what  is  more,  the  last 
two  gentlemen  sat  next  to  each  other  to  the  great 
amusement  of  Ellice.|  ...  I  cracked  my  jokes  with 
such  success  that  old  Rat  Warrender  was  compelled 
to  ask  me  to  drink  wine  with  him,  tho'  he  was  in- 
fernally annoyed  all  the  time,  and  made  a  most  pre- 
cipitate retreat  after  dinner.  But  my  delight  was 
Lord  Fitzroy  Somerset.  ...  I  never  was  more  pleased 
with  any  one  than  I  was  with  him  during  our  conver- 
sation, which  was  of  some  length.  .  .  ." 

"  March  i. 

".  .  .  On  Saturday  I  dined  at  Hume's,  where  I 
had  the  good  fortune  to  sit  between  Mina  and  one  of 
the  Greek  deputies.  .  .  .  Mina  §  is  my  delight.  Hob- 
house  wanted  to  flatter  him  at  the  expense  of  Morillo, 
Abisbal  and  Ballisteros,  but  Mina  would  not  touch  it. 
He  spoke  in  high  terms  of  the  talents  and  courage  of 
Morillo,  and  of  the  infinite  difficulties  all  Spaniards 
were  surrounded  with.  If  ever  I  saw  an  honest  man, 
he  is  one ;  and  then  he  is  so  hearty  and  likeable.  .  .  . 
Yesterday  I  miade  my  long  owing  visit  at  Holland 
House,  and  found  my  lord  and  my  lady  alone — she 
with  a  bad  cold,  and  he,  of  course,  nursing  her.  My 
visit  seemed  to  answer,  and  I  am  to  dine  and  stay  all 
night  there  on  Sunday.  Would  you  believe  it  ?  Lady 
H.  wd.  not  let  Holland  dine  with  Lord  Lansdowne 

*  Hon.  Douglas  Kinnaird,  a  banker  in  Westminster, 

t  Created  Lord  Raglan  in  1852. 

%  Sir  George,  originally  a  Whig,  had  become  a  supporter  of  the 
Government,  and  had  quarrelled  with  Creevey  about  a  taunting 
speech  he  (Creevey)  had  made  in  the  House  on  the  subject  of  "  ratting." 

§  General  Espoz  y  Mina,  a  distinguished  Spanish  soldier,  com- 
manded a  corps  under  Wellington  in  the  Peninsular  war. 


Iosi-:pii  I  If  mi-:. 


\Tofacc p.  416. 


1823-24.]  AT  CROCKFORD'S.  417 

last  week — a  dinner  made  purposely  for  Mina,  merely 
because  she  thought  it  might  not  please  the  King  if  he 
heard  of  it !  Nor  will  she  let  Mina  or  any  Spaniard 
approach  Holland  House  for  the  same  reason.  Was 
there  ever  such  a ? '' 

"April  2. 

"...  In  talking  with  Lady  Derby  about  young 
Gill  Heathcote's  duel,  she  put  me  in  mind  that  young 
Gill  and  Mrs.  Johnson  are  cousins — their  two  grand- 
mothers, Ly.  Louisa  Manners  and  Lady  Jane  Hally- 
day,  having  been  sisters.  So,  as  the  Countess  justly 
observed,  after  Gill  had  received  Lord  Brudenel's 
shot  for  maltreating  his  sister,  he  ought  to  have  said 
— '  Now,  my  lord,  I  must  beg  you  to  receive  my  shot 
for  your  conduct  to  my  cousin  ! '  Damned  fair,  I  think. 
...  At  night  I  am  sorry  to  say  I  went  with  Lord 
Sefton  into  that  famous,  or  rather  infamous,  salon  in 
St.  James's  Street,  where  all  the  world  at  present 
assembles.  It  far  surpasses  the  salon  at  Paris  in 
splendor,  tho'  nothing  like  so  large  nor  so  agreeable. 
To  me  it  appears  inevitable  that  all  the  young  ones 
must  be  ruined  there.  I  found  Sir  Colin  Campbell  at 
the  hazard  table,  young  Lord  William  Lennox,  Lord 
Bury  and  various  others  whom  I  knew — all  in  the 
face  of  day — no  concealment,  but  in  the  great  and 
principal  apartment  of  the  house.  .  .  .  On  Sunday, 
Sefton  and  I  go  to  hear  Irving,*  and  I  am  engaged  to 
dine  with  him,  altho'  Sussex  has  since  asked  me  to 
dine  with  him  to  meet  Mina." 

"May  12. 
"...    A  piece  of  news  in  the  fashionable  world 
which    has    been    referred   to    in    the   papers   is   the 

separation  of  Henry  B from  his  wife.     She  has 

long  been  known  to  be  a  '  neat  un,'  but  her  vagaries  at 
Paris  were  so  undisguised  that  some  friend  wrote  and 
advertised  her  husband  of  it  here,  and  he,  to  justify 
himself  before  proceeding  to  extremities,  took  to 
breaking  open  her  boxes  in  pursuit  of  evidence 
against  her.  In  one  of  these  he  is  said  to  have  found 
20  locks  of  hair,  with  a  label  on  each  containing  the 
name  of  the  lover  to  whom  it  belonged,  such  as  'dear 

*  Edward  Irving,  the  famous  Scottish  preacher. 


4lS  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.       [Ch.  XVI. 

John  Warrender's.'  So  having  collected  his  trophies 
of  this  kind,  with  letters  equally  instructive,  he  sallied 
forth  to  meet  her  return,  and  Rochester  was  the  place 
they  came  together.  Here,  upon  her  giving  her 
solemn  word  of  honor  that  all  the  children  but  one 
were  his,  he  banished  her  and  tlic  one  from  his  sight 
for  ever,  and  has  taken  all  the  other  children  from  her. 
She  is  a  Yankee  by  birth  and  origin  :  her  husband  is 
a  notorious  gambler,  for  whom  nobody  seems  to  care 
a  damn. 

"Another  slip  is  Mrs.  Alderman  C with  our 

tragedian,  Kean.  .  .  .  He  has  been  at  his  letters  too, 
one  of  which  to  the  lady  was  intercepted  by  the  alder- 
man, and   begun — 'You   dear  imprudent  little  .' 

Can  anything  be  more  soft  or  romantic  ?  .  .  . 

"  I  don't  know  whether  you  noticed  that  Edward 
Stanley*  made  a  regular  attack  upon  Hume,  defended 
the  Church,  and  eventually  voted  against  Hume  and 
our  people,  as  did  his  father.!  You  may  well  suppose 
this  heresy  was  mightily  extolled  by  the  enem}'.  .  .  . 
Lord  Derby  has  been  made  really  ill  by  it." 

"  4th  May. 

"...  I  told  you  of  my  dinner  with  King  Tom,t 
and  of  my  satisfaction  with  the  Crown  Prince.§  The 
latter  is  really  like  a  young  Newfoundland  puppy 
— quite  as  strong,  intelligent  and  good-natured.  .  .  . 
At  night,  Coke  was  to  take  me  to  the  honble.  House ; 
but  .  .  .  we  first  looked  in  at  Brooks's,  where  we 
found  that  the  whole  concern  had  been  knocked  up  by 
the  Balloon  !  So  many  members  had  run  out  to  see  it 
that  Alderman  Kit  Smith,  a  furious  enemy  of  the 
Saints,  call'd  for  the  House  to  be  counted.  .  .  .  Not 
forty  had  remained  in  it,  so  all  was  over!  Sefton's 
delight  in  the  mischief  was  unbounded.  Brougham 
had  been  in  bed  most  of  the  day  on  purpose,  and  had 
ordered  himself  to  be  called  at  5  so  as  to  be  quite  fresh 
for  his  reply.     Wilberforce   had  given  all  his  serious 

*  Afterwards  14th  Earl  of  Derby. 

t  Lord  Stanley,  afterwards  13th  Earl  of  Derby.  The  Stanleys 
hitherto  had  been  consistent  Whigs. 

+  Mr.  Coke  of  Holkham,  created  Earl  of  Leicester  in  1837. 
§  The  present  Earl  of  Leicester,  born  in  1S22. 


1823-34.]  ROYAL   ASCOT.  419 

acquaintance  notice  that  he  meant  to  take  leave  of 
publick  life  in  his  speech  on  this  occasion,*  so  that 
every  hole  and  corner  was  crammed  with  saints  and 
missionaries  in  expectation  of  this  great  event;  when, 
lo  and  behold !  this  wicked  aeronaut  proved  more 
attractive  to  the  gidd3'  Council  of  the  Nation." 

''  June  1 8,  Stoke  Farm. 

".  .  .  Our  course  for  the  last  three  da^-s  has  been 
to  breakfast  punctually  at  10,  to  start  for  Ascot  about 
1 1,  not  to  be  home  again  before  6,  and  after  dinner  to 
be  engaged  in  gambles  of  one  kind  or  another  with 
cards  till  one  or  later.  .  .  .  Our  old  acquaintance 
Prinney  was  at  the  races  each  day,  and  tho'  in  health 
he  appeared  perfect,  he  has  all  the  appearance  of  a 
slang  leg — a  plain  brown  hat,  black  cravat,  scratch 
wig,  and  his  hat  cocked  over  one  eye.  There  he 
sat,  in  one  corner  of  his  stand,  Lady  Conyngham 
rather  behind  him,  hardly  visible  but  by  her  feathers. 
He  had  the  same  limited  set  of  7>)!>5  about  him  each 
day,  and  arrived  and  departed  in  private.  I  must  say 
he  cut  the  lowest  figure  ;  and  the  real  noblesse — Whig 
and  Tory — were  with  his  brother  York." 

"'June  19. 
"...   I  wish  I  could  sufficiently  condense  the  facts 
of  an  affair  which  now  forms  the  pre-eminent  subject 
of  conversation  in  the  bean  mondc.     The  parties  are 

P G and  Lady  G .     The  latter  has  been 

parted  some  time  from  her  husband,  and   P has 

been  the  lover  of  the  lady.  It  seems  that  Mrs.  Peter 
Free,  the  sister  of  Lady  G ,  has  long  been  press- 
ing her    to  discard  P as  quite  unworthy  of  her, 

and  in  the  end  she  succeeded ;  so  that  one  fine 
day  our  heroine  sets  forth  in  all  the  consciousness 
of  virtuous  triumph  to  carry  to  her  sister,  not  only 
the  vicious  correspondence  which  had  passed  be- 
tween   her  and    her  lover,  but  a  copy  of  the    letter 

which  she    had  written    and    sent    to    P ,    closing 

all  intercourse  with   him   for  ever.      By  some  secret 

*  Tlic  occasion  was  an  acijouincd  debate  on  Brougham's  motion 
for  an  enquiry  into  the  trial  l)y  court-martial  cf  an  English  missionary 
in  Demerara. 


420  THE  CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVI. 

management  of  the  Devil,  no  doubt,  the  lady  was 
tempted  by  him  in  the  shape  of  a  gown  to  go  into 
a  shop ;  and,  having  deposited  and  left  upon  the 
counter  her  ridicule  [reticule],  the  aforesaid  Enemy  of 
man  and  womankind  had  the  address  to  have  it  con- 
veyed to   the   house  of  Sir  B ,  who   opened  and 

examined  its  contents.  You  have  of  course  antici- 
pated that  the  fatal  correspondence  was  enclosed  in 
it,  which  he  has  been  kind  enough  to  shew  to  a  pretty 
numerous  circle  of  his  friends.  Tom  Buncombe  tells 
me  he  has  seen  every  letter.  The  parties  correspond 
under  the  imposing  signatures  of  Jupiter  and  Juno. 

.  .  ,  The    principal   novelty   to   Sir   B is   a  child 

which  the  lady  has  born  to  P ,  which  is  receiving 

its  nourishment  and  education  in  the  New  Road.     It 

is   the   conduct   of   P to   this    interesting   infant 

which  constitutes  the  lady's  grounds  for  abandoning 
him  for  ever.  It  seems  the  child  had  lately  suffered 
severely  in  cutting  a  tooth — an  event  which  agitated 

its  mother  extreamly,  but  which  P is  alleged  to 

have  witnessed  with  the  most  stoical  indifference  ;  so 
much  so,  that  she  is  very  naturally  led  to  contrast  his 
conduct  with  that  of  his  friend  De  Ros,'^  who  actually 
wept  over  the  child ;  and,  what  is  more,  has  promised 
to  provide  for  it  by  his  will.  It  is  this  last  anecdote 
which  peculiarly  delights  the  town,  De  Ros  being 
one  of  the  cleverest  and  most  hardened  villains  in 
it.  ..." 

"  June  22nd. 

".  .  .  We  are  all  full  of  a  battle  that  is  to  take  place 
in  the  H.  of  Lords  between  the  Duke  of  York  and  our 
Scroop.t  Lord  Holland  has  brought  in  a  bill  to 
enable  Scroop,  tho'  a  Catholic,  to  officiate  in  future  as 
Earl  Marshal.  It  was  read  a  2nd  time  on  Saturday, 
tho'  the  Duke  of  York  and  old  Eldon  were  in  the 
minority ;  but  since  then  the  D.  of  York  has  become 
perfectly  furious,  and  has  written  to  every  peer  he 
knows,  calling  upon  him  to  come  and  protect  the 
Crown  against  the  insidious  Scroop.  We  had  a  jolly 
day  enough  at  Whitehall  on  Saturday,  altho'  I  never 

*  The  19th  Baron  de  Ros. 
t  The  1 2th  Duke  of  Norfolk. 


1823-24.]  NEWMARKET.  421 

see  Sydney  Smith  without  thinking  him  too  much  of 
a  buffoon." 

"  25th  June. 

"  I  dined  last  night  at  Lord  Carnarvon's,  where  by 
comparison  for  amusement  Bedlam  *  decidedly  kept 
the  lead,  altho'  our  company  were  no  other  than  the 
Dukes  of  Sussex  and  Leinster,  Marquis  Downshire, 
Earls  Grey,  Jersey,  Darnley,  Cowper  and  Rosslyn, 
Lords  King,  Ellenborough  and  John  Russell,  and  last 
and  least  Messrs.  Brougham  and  Creevey.  Carnarvon 
never  uttered,  and  little  Sussex  very  justly  whispered 
to  me  as  we  came  away  that  'it  had  been  a  7;mlancholy 
day.' .  .  .  Grey,  Rosslyn,  Cowper  and  Jersey  went  full 
fig  from  Carnarvon's  to  the  Beau's,  to  meet  the  King 
who  dined  there,  and  Grey  says  to-day  cut  him  most 
clearly  and  decidedly.  .  .  ." 

"15  July. 
".  .  .  We  had  beautiful  weather  at  Newmarket.  .  .  . 
Sefton  has  a  capital  house,  and,  according  to  custom, 
his  dinners  were  admirably  arranged.  Tavistock,  Lord 
Jersey,  Punch  Grevillef  and  Shelley  dined  there  each 
day,  and  on  Tuesday  the  Duke  of  Grafton  and  the 
Duke  of  York.  1  had  never  seen  the  latter  in  this  sort 
of  way  before,  and  was  extreamly  entertained.  He  is 
the  very  image  of  the  late  Lord  Petre ;  perhaps  not 
quite  so  clever,  and  certainly  not  so  polite — in  short,  a 
very  civil  and  apparently  most  good-tempered  idiot, 
without  any  manners  at  all.  Shelley  played  the  fool 
in  patronising  him  and  shewing  him  off,  and  Punch 
Greville  disgraced  himself  by  hunching  him ;  but  he 
took  both  in  the  same  good  humor,  and  we  all  drank 
freely  in  compliment  to  the  royal  guest.  .  .  ." 

"  Cantlcy,  nr.  Doncaster  [Michael  Taylor,  M.P.'s],  Sept.  7th. 
"...  I  had  a  most  prosperous  journey  down  here. 
There  never  was  such  perfection  of  travelling.     I  left 
London  at  I  past  8  on  triday  morning,  and,  without  an 

*  He  had  paid  a  visit  that  mornin;;  to  the  new  Bedlam,  south  of 
Westminster  Bridge. 

•   t    Charles   Cavendish   Fulke   Greville  [i 794-1865],  Clerk  of  the 
Council  and  political  diarist. 


422  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.      [Ch.  XVI. 

effort,  and  in  a  coach  loaded  with  luggage,  I  was  at 
Doncaster  by  5  the  following  morning — a  distance  of 
i6o  miles!  .  .  .  Lady  Anson  goes  to  town  next  week 
to  be  present  at  the  wedding  of  her  niece,  the  pretty 
'Aurora'— 'Light  of  Day'— Miss  Digby  .  .  .  who  is 
going  to  be  married  to  Lord  Ellenborough.  ...  It 
was  Miss  Russell  who  refused  Ld.  Ellenborough,  as 
many  others  besides  are  said  to  have  done.  Lady 
Anson  will  have  it  that  he  was  a  very  good  husband 
to  his  first  wife,  but  all  my  impressions  are  that  he  is 
a  damned  fellow."* 

"  Cantley  [Doncaster  Races],  24th  Sept. 

".  .  .  George  Payne's  loss  (in  bets)  turns  out  to  be 
y;2 1,000  and  not  ^^25,000  as  I  had  been  told  when  I 
wrote  to  3^ou  on  Monday.  The  ^4000  saved  is  better 
than  nothing,  but  the  whole  thing  is  damnable.  ...  If 
one  could  suppose  such  a  knockdown  blow  wd.  cure 
him,  it  might  turn  out  to  be  money  well  laid  out ;  but 
I  fear  that  is  hopeless.  He  says  he  shall  keep  to 
hunting  in  future  and  cut  the  turf  .  .  .  Lady  London- 
derry is  the  great  shew  of  the  balls  here  in  her  jewels, 
which  are  out  of  all  question  the  finest  I  ever  beheld — 
such  immense  amethysts  and  emeralds,  &c.  Poor 
Mrs.  Carnac,  who  had  a  regular  haystack  of  diamonds 
last  night,  was  really  iiothing  by  the  side  of  the  other, 
tho'  in  beauty  the  two  ladies  are  very  fairly  matched. 
Such  a  dumpv,  rum-shaped  and  rum-faced  article  as 
Lad}^  I.ondonderry  one  can  rarely  see.  .  .  ." 

"  Lambton,  Oct.  20. 

'^.  .  .  I  got  here  on  Monday  night,  the  company 
being  at  dinner,  and  in  the  second  course.  However 
King  Jog,  hearing  I  was  arrived,  left  his  throne,  and 
came  out,  and  took  me  in  with  him.  I  found  nearer 
30  than  20  people  there,  in  a  very  long  and  lofty 
apartment — the  roof  highly  collegiate,  from  which  hung 
the  massive  chandeliers — the  curtain  drapery  of  dark- 
coloured  velvet,  profusely  fringed  with  gold,  and  much 
resembling  palls.     The  company,  sitting  at  a  long  and 

*  This  marriage  turned  out  badly,  and  was  dissolved  by  Act  of 
Parliament  in  1830.  "  .'\urora  "  consoled  h  erself  by ////rr  subsequent 
marriages,  and  died  at  Damascus  in  1S81. 


I 


1823-24.]  A   VISIT   TO    LAMBTON.  423 

narrowish  table,  never  uttered  a  single,  solitary  sound 
for  long-  and  long  after  I  was  there ;  so  that  it  realh^ 
might  have  been  the  family  vault  of  the  Lambtons,  and 
the  company  the  male  and  female  Lambtons  who  had 
been  buried  in  their  best  cloaths  and  in  a  sitting 
position.  Grey  and  Ly.  Elizabeth  and  Lord  Howick 
are  here,  the  Milbanks,  the  Wiltons  and  Bob  Grosvcnor, 
the  Cavendishes  and  Henry  and  his  wife,  the  Dundas's, 
the  Normanbys,  Mr.  Hobhouse,  Sir  Hedworth  William- 
son, young  Liddel,  Mat  Ridley,  [illegible]  three  deep, 
Capt.  Berkley  and  other  captains  and  majors  who  ride 
at  our  races,  not  omitting  John  Mills.  To-day,  too, 
my  Lord  and  Lady  Londonderry,  with  Sir  Something 
and  Lady  Something  Gresley,*  come.  The  place  is 
really  a  fine  one,  considering  how  confined  it  is  by 
coal-pits  and  smoke,  and  part  of  the  house  quite 
unrivalled.  .  .  .  The  capricious  young  tyrant  and 
devil  t  is  all  graciosity  to  myself.  .  .  .  Mrs.  Taylor 
had  caught  fresh  cold  before  I  left  Cantley,  so  that  she 
was  bled  on  Sunday  morning  and  fainted  away.  .  .  . 
We'll  go  to  our  races  of  to-day.  Grey  had  over  and 
over  again  expressed  to  me  his  nervousness  about  14 
or  15  of  these  young  men  starting  for  the  Cup;  the 
course  being  very  slippery  and  not  wide  enough  for 
such  a  number.  You  may  judge,  then,  what  cause 
there  was  for  his  apprehension  when  three  horses  out 
of  the  number  came  in  without  their  riders.  .  .  .  Lady 
Wilton  was  standing  up  as  white  as  a  sheet,  whilst 
Lady  Augusta  Milbank  fell  to  the  bottom  of  the  coach 
as  if  she  had  been  shot.  Just  then,  however,  the 
good-natured  Mat  Ridley  came  galloping  up  with  all 
his  might  and  main  to  announce  that  all  was  safe.  .  .  . 
Milbank  is  the  only  one  hurt  ...  he  has  been  bled, 
and  is  somewhat  bruised.  .  .  .  Well — all  being  over, 
we  came  home  and  dined  pretty  punctually  at  seven — 
and  such  a  dinner  I  defy  any  human  being  to  fanc}^  for 
such  an  occasion.  ...  I  handed  Mrs.  Dundas  out 
(Miss  Williamson  that  was)  and  a  pretty  good  laugh 
I  had  out  of  her  at  our  fare.  A  round  of  beef  at  a  side 
table  was  run  at  with  as  much  keenness  as  a  banker's 
shop  before  a  stoppage.  .  .  .  Was  there  ever  such  an 

*  Sir  Roger  and  Lady  Sophia  Gresley. 
t  Mr.  Lambton. 

2   G 


424  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.       [Ch.  XVI. 

instance  of  derangement,  with  all  this  expense  in  other 
subjects  and  all  his  means?  I  have  just  been  saying 
to  Mills  that  it  is  a  low  Crockford's,  and  he  admits  it 
is  so ;  but  he  adds  that  it  is  certainly  better  than  last 
year,  for  then  there  was  no  beef  at  the  side  table,  but 
only  a  sucking-pig!  Oh  dear,  oh  dear!  it  is  a  neat 
concern  :  and  yet  the  comfort  of  these  rooms  is  beyond. 
I  have  got  my  book  I  was  in  search  of,  and  his  civility 
about  it  makes  me  almost  ashamed  of  thinking  him 
such  a  sting}^,  swindling,  tyrannical  kip  as  he  cer- 
tainly is. 

"  Well,  as  to  kips,  I  think  this  Lord  Wilton  *  must 
certainly  be  a  decided  one.  He  has  the  worst  counte- 
nance, I  think,  I  ever  saw,  and  he  appears  a  sulky, 
selfish  chap  :  but  she  seems  very  happy  .  .  .  and  there 
is  a  great  charm  in  all  she  does.  .  .  ." 

"  Lambton,  23rd  Sept. 
"...  A  very  large  division  of  us  have  got  to  quiz 
the  whole  concern  of  dinner,  so  that  we  really  have  a 
very  jolly  time.  King  Jog  himself  still  sits  silent  and 
involved  in  thought.  .  .  .  V/e  are  really  very  much 
indebted  to  these  grandees  for  the  damned  fools  they 
make  of  themselves.  Let  me  present  you  with  a  few 
particulars.  .  .  .  The  night  before  last,  between  12  and 
I,  I  being  in  the  library  v/here  the  same  cold  fowl 
always  is  with  wine  and  water,  Lambton  came  in  out 
of  the  hazard  room,  and,  finding  no  water,  begun 
belabouring  the  bell  in  a  way  that  I  thought  must 
inevitably  have  brought  the  whole  concern  down.  No 
effect  was  produced,  so  he  sallied  forth,  evidently 
boiling,  and  when  he  returned  he  said:—'  I  don't  think 
I  shall  have  to  ring  so  long  another  time.'  This  is  all 
I  know  of  my  own  knowledge ;  but,  says  Lady  Augusta 
Milbank  to  me  yesterday  —  *  Do  you  know  what 
happened  last  night?' — 'Du  tout,'  says  L — 'Why,' 
says  she,  'Mr.  Lambton  rung  the  bell  for  water  so 
long,  that  he  went  and  rung  the  house  bell,  when  his 
own  man  came;  and  upon  saying  something  in  his 
own  justification  which  displeased  the  Monarch,  he 
laid  hold  of  a  stick  and  struck  him  twice ;  upon  which 

*  The  3rd  Earl  of  Wilton,  a  renowned  character  in  the  chase  and 
on  the  turf. 


1S23-24-]        CAPTAIN    FITZCLARENCE'S    OPINIONS.       425 

his  man  told  him  he  could  not  stand  that,  and  that  if 
he  did  it  again  he  should  be  obliged  to  knock  him 
down.  So  the  master  held  his  hand  and  the  man  gave 
him  notice  he  had  done  with  him.  ,  .  . 

"  Lady has  two  maids  here — one  French  and 

the  other  Italian,  the  latter  of  which  presides  over 
the  bonnet  department.  [Follows  a  story  about 
the  Italian.]  ...  So  much  lor  the  Italian  maid,  and 
now  for  the  French  one.  Mrs.  William  Lambton 
was  going  along  a  passage  near  her  ladyship's  room 
between  12  and  i  this  morning,  when  she  found  la 
petite  on  the  floor  cr^'ing  bitterly,  and  upon  enquiring 
the  cause,  she  said  my  lady  had  beat  her  so  :  upon 
which  Mrs.  W.  Lambton  sent  her  maid  to  her  with 
some  sal  volatile,  and  just  as  she  was  administering  it, 

my  lord  came  out  and  would  not  let  her  have 

it,  saying  she  did  not  deserve  it  and  that  she  was 
shamming.  Now  I  should  be  glad  to  know  if  there 
was  ever  !  You  never  saw  any  one  enjoy  these  things 
more  than  Grey,  except  indeed  Lady  Wilton.  What 
a  good  thing  she  will  make  of  it  all  for  little  Derby 
and  the  Countess!" 

''Lambton,  Oct.  24th. 

"...  I  think  I  never  saw  Grey  to  greater  advantage, 
nor  Lady  Louisa  to  so  much.  As  for  Lady  Elizabeth, 
you  never  saw  a  creature  so  thin  or  altered  in  looks.  .  .  . 
The  other  night  Ly.  Wilton,  she,  Hobhouse,  Mills  and 
I  had  a  jaw  about  life,  youth  and  age.  L}-,  Elizth. 
was  all  for  childhood — that  she  shd.  never  be  so  happy 
again,  and  that  if  it  was  not  for  her  friends,  she  would 
as  soon  die  as  live.  This  may  be  Grey  gloom,  but  I 
am  afraid  it  must  be  the  behaviour  of  Lord  Lothian." 

"Croxtcth,  Nov.  10,  1S24. 
"...  I  left  FitzClarence  at  Gosforth  and  continue 
to  like  him  as  well  as  ever.  L}^  Sefton  says  he  is  out 
and  out  the  best  of  the  family.  .  .  .  Tho'  shy,  he  is  not 
without  the  ingemionsiiess  of  the  famil}'.  He  said  the 
King  was  getting  very  old  and  cross — that  the  Duchess 
of  Clarence  was  the  best  and  most  charming  woman  in 
the  world — that  Prince  Leopold  was  a  damned  humbug, 
and  that  he  [FitzClarence]  disliked  the  Duchess  of 
Kent." 


(     426    ) 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

1825-1826. 

Domestic  politics  were  in  an  uneventful  stage  in  the 
fifth  year  of  George  IV.  Ten  years  of  peace  had  told 
their  tale  upon  the  resources  of  the  United  Kingdom  ; 
the  mineral  and  textile  industries  were  fully  employed, 
and  were  developing  apace ;  even  farmers  had  ceased 
to  have  cause  for  complaint,  if  the  Animal  Register  m^.y 
be  taken  as  well  informed,  for  "agricultural  distress 
had  disappeared,"  according  to  that  authority,  which 
is  scarcely  to  be  reconciled  with  Lord  Sefton's 
account  of  affairs  in  Lancashire.  Mr.  Creevey's 
letters  are  chiefly  filled  with  descriptions  of  the  various 
country  houses  which  he  visited,  and  of  their  inmates. 
January  finds  him  north  of  the  Tweed,  paying  a  visit 
to  his  friend  Mr.  Ferguson  of  Raith. 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"Raith,  i8th  January,  1825. 

".  .  .  On  Sunday  I  went  to  Kirk  to  hear  the  great 
luminary  of  this  county.  Dr.  Chalmers,*  Professor  of 
Huma-nity  at  Glasgow,  and  an  author  upon  many 
subjects.  He  dined  here  on  Saturday,  and  was  treated 
as  a  regular  Jeroboam.  His  appearance  on  that  day 
was  that  of  a  ver}^  quiet,  good  kind  of  man,  with  very 
dirty  hands  and  nails ;  but  on  Sunday  I  never  beheld 
a  fitter  subject  for  Bedlam  than  he  was.  .  .  .  The  stuff 
the   fellow  preached  could  only  be  surpassed  by  his 

*  In  1S23  he  was  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy  in  St.  Andrews, 
but  in  1824  he  was  transferred  to  the  chair  of  Theology  in  Edinburgh. 


1S35-26.]  TWO   SCOTTISH    DIVINES.  427 

manner  of  roaring  it  out.  I  expected  lie  would  have 
carried  the  poor  Kirkcaldy  pulpit  clean  away.  Then 
his  Scotch  too !  His  sermon  was  to  prove  that  the 
manner  of  doing  a  kindness  was  more  valuable  than 
the  matter,  in  support  of  which  I  remember  two  notable 
illustrations. — 'If,'  said  he,  'you  suppose  a  fa-mily  to 
be  suddenly  veesited  with  the  ca-la-mit}''  of  po-verty, 
the  tear  of  a  menial — the  fallen  countenance  of  a 
domestick — in  such  cases  will  afford  greater  relief  to 
the  fil-mily  than  a  speceefick  sum  of  money  without  a 
corresponding  sympath}'.'  A  pretty  good  start,  was 
it  not — for  Scotland,  too,  of  all  places  in  the  world ! 
but  it  was  followed  b}^  a  still  higher  flight. — '  Why,' 
said  he,  or  rather  shouted  he,  '  Why  is  it  that  an  rpple 
presented  by  an  infant  to  its  parent  produces  greater 
pleesure  than  an  rpple  found  by  the  raud-side?  Why, 
because  it  is  the  moral  influence  of  the  geft,  and  not 
the  speceefick  quality  of  the  epple  that  in  this  case 
constitutes  the  pleesure  of  the  parent.'  Now  what 
think  you  of  the  tip-top  showman  of  all  Scotland?  .  .  . 
"  Having  heard  that  the  London  artist  Irving  had 
formerly  to  do  with  Kirkcald}-;,  I  asked  Fergus  and  he 
replied — 'Oh  yes:  he  kept  an  aca-demy  for  youth  at 
Kirkcaldy  and  was  the  greatest  tyrant  of  a  dominie  that 
ever  I  hard  of  He  had  three  different  indictments 
found  against  him  for  beating  his  pupils.' — 'Oh!'  said 
I,  'you  joke.' — 'No,'  replied  Fergus,  'I  never  made  a 
joke  in  my  life.  I  have  seen,  with  my  own  eyes,  his 
pupils  carried  home,  from  his  having  bruised  them  so 
unmercifully ;  and  the  truth  is,  I  canno  bear  to  hear 
his  name  mentioned.'  The  said  Fergus  is  a  man  of 
70  years  of  age  at  least,  and  Provost  of  Kirkcaldy. 
Is  it  not  a  capital  account  of  the  London  charmer  to 
whom  the  fine  ladies.  Jemmy  McKintosh,  and  Canning, 
and  anybody  else  of  any  fame,  fly  in  all  directions?" 

Lord  Thanet's  death  at  this  time  seriously  affected 
Mr.  Creevey's  position  in  Parliament  as  member  for 
Appleby,  which  seat  was  in  the  deceased  lord's  gift. 
By  the  custom  of  the  unreformed  Parliament  he  felt 
bound  to  resign  the  scat  if  called  on  to  do  so  b}'  his 
lordship's  successor. 


428  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Cif.  XVII. 

Mr.  Crcevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"Raith,  Feby.  6th,  1825. 
".  .  .  Soyez  tranquille  as  to  Parliament — as  to  my 
having  a  seat  in  it,  I  mean.  You  have  already  my 
mind  on  this  subject  .  .  .  particularly  as  to  the  value 
to  one's  feelings  of  not  being  turned  out  on  a  notice 
or  by  the  intrigues  of  Ly.  Holland,  Ly.  Blessington, 
&c.,  &c.  .  .  .  The  death  of  poor  Thanet  makes  a  great 
difference  in  my  feelings  as  to  parliamentary  attend- 
ance. It  was  due  to  him  to  be  at  my  post ;  1  feel  no 
such  obligation  to  the  present  earl  or  my  dear  con- 
stituents, .  .  ." 

"Raby  Castle  [Earl  of  Darlington's],  Feb.  i6th,  1825, 
".  .  .  This  house  is  itself  z^'/*?;- the  most  magnificent 
and  unique  in  several  ways  that  I  have  ever  seen. 
Then  what  are  we  to  say  of  its  being  presided  over  by  a 
poploUy  ! !  a  magnificent  woman,  dressed  to  perfection, 
without  a  vestige  of  her  former  habits — in  short,  in 
viamicrs  as  produceable  a  countess  as  the  best  blood 
could  give  you.  ...  As  long  as  I  have  heard  of  any- 
thing, I  have  heard  of  being  driven  into  the  hall  of 
this  house  in  one's  carriage,  and  being  set  down  by 
the  fire.  You  can  have  no  idea  of  the  magnificent 
perfection  with  which  this  is  accomplished.  Then  the 
band  of  musick  which  plays  in  this  same  hall  during 
dinner!  then  the  gold  plate!!  and  then — the  poplolly 
at  the  head  of  all ! ! ! "  * 

"  Raby,  20th  Feby. 

*'.  .  .  My  lady  [Darlington]  drove  me  about  and 
shewed  me  many  lions  1  had  not  seen  before.  I  am 
compelled  to  admit  that,  in  the  familiarity  of  a  duet 
and  outing,  the  cloven  foot  appeared.  I  don't  mean 
more  than  that  tendency  to  slang,  which  I  conceive  it 
impossible  for  any  person  who  has  been  long  in  the 
ranks   entirely   to   get   over.t      To   be   sure  when   I 

*  The  3rd  Earl  of  DarHngton  was  created  Duke  of  Cleveland  in 
1833.  By  his  second  wife,  alluded  to  abo\e,  who  died  in  1861,  he  had 
no  children. 

t  It  requires  an  eflbrt  to  realise  how  very  recent  is  the  toleration  of 
slang  in  ladies  of  position.  Men,  as  is  amply  manifest  in  Mr.  Creevey's 
correspondence,  permitted  themselves  to  use  language  of  the  utmost 


1825-26.J        •      THE    BIRTH    OF    RAILWAYS.  4^9 

look  at  these  three  young  women,*  and  at  this 
brazen-faced  Pop  who  is  placed  over  them,  and  shews 
that  she  is  so,  the  whole  transaction — I  mean  the 
marriage,  appears  to  me  the  wickedest  thing  I  ever 
heard  of;  for  altho'  these  young  ladies  appear  to  be 
gifted  with  no  great  talents,  and  altho'  they  have  all 
more  or  less  of  the  quality  squall,  yet  their  manners 
are  particularly  correct  and  modest,  .  .  ." 

"  London,  IMarch  7th. 

"...  I  wish  you  could  hear  Atty  Hill's  t  imitation 
of  old  Dowr.  Richmond  upon  the  marriage  that  is 
about  to  take  place  between  Mrs.  Tighe's  eldest  son 
and  a  young  Lady  [Louisa]  Lennox,  The  Dowr.  had 
fixed  her  mind  upon  having  Lord  Hervey,  which  was 
more  than  he  did,  so  Tighe  and  the  young  one 
settled  their  affairs,  .  .  ." 

At  this  time  may  be  noted  the  earliest  appear- 
ance in  Parliament  of  the  great  railway  movement. 
Mr.  Creevey  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  Com- 
mittee to  deal  w'ith  the  Bill  of  the  Liverpool  and  Man- 
chester Railway  Company,  to  which,  it  would  appear, 
he  applied  himself  in  no  judicial  frame  of  mind.  He 
acted  openly  in  the  interests  of  his  friends  Lords 
Derby  and  Sefton,  who,  like  most  territorial  magnates 
at  that  time,  viewed  the  designs  of  railway  engineers 
with  the  utmost  apprehension  and  abhorrence, 

Mr.  Crcevcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  London,  March  16,  1S25. 

",  .  .  Sefton  and   1    have  come  to   the  conclusion 

that  our  Ferguson  is  insane.     He  quite  foamed  at  the 

mouth  with  rage  in  our  Railwa}^  Committee  in  support 

of  this  infernal   nuisance — the  loco-motive    Monster, 

licence;  Init,  if  swearing  was  reckoned  a  grace  in  male  con\ersation, 
slang  was  pronounced  a  disgrace  among  ladies. 

*  Lord  Darlington's  daughters. 

t  Lord  Arthur  Hill,  second  son  of  2nd  Marquess  of  Downshire, 
succeeded  his  mother  as  Baron  Sandvs, 


430  THE    CREEVEY    TAPERS.  •     [Ch.  XVII. 

carrying  eight}'  tons  of  goods,  and  navigated  by  a  tail 
of  smoke  and  sulphur,  coming  thro'  every  man's 
grounds  betvv^een  Manchester  and  Liverpool.  He 
was  supported  by  Scotchmen  only,  except  a  son  of 
Sir  Robert  Peel's,  and  against  every  landed  gentle- 
man of  the  county — his  own  particular  friends,  who 
were  all  present,  such  as  Ld.  Stanley,  Ld.  Sefton, 
Ld.  Geo.  Cavendish,  &c." 

"25th  March. 
"...  I  get  daily  more  interested  about  this  rail- 
road— on   its   own   grounds,  to   begin  with,  and   the 
infernal,  impudent,  Wing  jobbing  by  its  promoters.  .  .  ." 

"31st  May. 

".  .  .  This  railway  is  the  devil's  own — from  12  till 

4  daily  is   really  too   much.     We  ver}^  near  did   the 

business  to-day ;  we  were  36  to  ^y  on  the  Bill  itself.    I 

led  for  the  Opposition  in  a  speech  of  half  an  hour.  .  .  ." 

"June  I. 
".  .  Well — this  devil  of  a  railway  is  strangled  at 
last.  I  was  sure  that  yesterda3''s  division  had  put  him 
on  his  last  legs,  and  to-day  we  had  a  clear  majority  in 
the  Committee  in  our  favour,  and  the  promoters  of  the 
Bill  withdrew  it,  and  took  their  leave  of  us.  .  .  .  We 
had  to  fight  this  long  battle  against  an  almost  universal 
prejudice  to  start  with — interested  shareholders  and 
perfidious  Whigs,  several  of  whom  affected  to  oppose 
us  upon  conscientious  scruples.  Sefton's  ecstacies  are 
beyond,  and  he  is  pleased  to  say  it  has  been  all  my 
doing;  so  it's  all  mighty  well." 

"6th. 

".  .  .  Another  charming  day  we  had  [at  Ascot]. 
Prinney  came  as  before,  bowling  along  the  course  in 
his  carriage  and  four.  In  passing  the  young  Duchess 
of  Richmond's  open  landau  he  played  off  his  nods  and 
winks  and  kissing  his  hand,  just  as  he  did  to  all  of  you 
20  years  ago  on  the  Brighton  racecourse.  .  .  .  Lords 
Cowper  and  Jersey  joined  our  sandwich  party.  .  .  .  As 
Cowper  was  an  inmate  of  the  Court,  I  inquired  as  to 
their  goings  on,  and  how  the  King  lived. — 'Why,'  said 
he,  'yesterday  I  think  we  sat  down  about  24  or  25  to 
dinner  at  h  past  7,  and  the  King  ate  very  heartily  of 


1S25-26.]    CREEVEY'S  SEAT  IN  JEOPARDY.       43! 

turtle,  accompanying  it  with  punch,  sherry  and  cham- 
paign. The  dinner  always  lasts  a  very  long  time,  and 
yesterday  we  sat  very  late  after  it.  The  King  was  in 
deep  conversation  with  Lauderdale,  and  I  think  must 
have  drunk  a  couple  of  bottles  of  claret  before  w^e  rose 
from  table.'  .  .  .  He  had  prepared  for  the  week  by 
having  12  oz.  of  blood  taken  from  him  by  cupping  on 
the  Monday.  Nevertheless,  we  all  think  he  will  beat 
brother  York  still.  It  was  not  amiss  to  hear  bold 
York  congratulating  Sefton  and  the  Countess  upon 
their  victory  over  the  railzvay.  .  .  . 

"Our  dinner  at  Bruffam's  yesterda}'  was  damnable 
in  cookery,  comfort,  and  everything  else,  tho'  the  dear 
Countess  of  Darlington  was  there,  better  dressed  and 
looking  better  than  any  countess  in  London.  Mrs. 
Brougham  sat  like  an  overgrown  doll  at  the  top  of 
the  table  in  a  bandeau  of  roses,  her  face  in  a  perpetual 
simper  w^ithout  utterance.  Bruftam,  at  the  other  end, 
was  jawing  about  nothing  from  beginning  to  end, 
without  attending  to  any  one,  and  only  caring  about 
hearing  himself  talk.  The  company  were  the  Dar- 
lingtons  and  Ly.  Arabella,  the  Taylors,  Dr.  and  Mrs. 
Lushington,  Lord  Nugent,  Anacreon  Moore,  a  son  of 
Rosslyn's,  a  brother  of  Brougham's,  and  myself " 

"June  25111. 

"...  There  has  been  a  blow-up  again  between 
Prinney  and  L}^  Conyngham,  but  matters  are  all  settled 
again  thro'  the  kind  and  skilful  negociation  of  Lau- 
derdale. She  has  become  of  late  very  restless  and 
impatient  under  what  she  calls  her  terrible  restraint 
and  confinement,  and  about  10  days  ago  announced 
her  fixed  determination  to  go  abroad.  .  .  .  Lauderdale, 
however,  has  satisfied  her  for  the  present  that,  how- 
ever blameable  it  was  in  her  at  first  to  get  into  her 
present  situation,  now  it  is  her  bounden  duty  to  sub- 
mit and  go  thro'  with  it." 

Busy  intrigues  were  afoot  at  this  time  about  seats 
in  Parliament.  Brougham  was  negociating  secretly 
with  various  noble  lords  in  order  to  get  his  friends 
in ;  and  although  his  correspondence  with  Creevey 
was    as    cordial    in    appearance    as    heretofore     yet 


432  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Cii.  XVII. 

Creevey  was  duly  informed  by  kind  friends  what  was 
going  on.  He  deeply  resented  what  he  considered 
Brougham's  treachery  in  trying  to  oust  him  from  his 
seat,  and  wrote  with  great  bitterness  and  frequency 
about  the  villainy  of  "  Wicked  Shifts."  Lord  Darling- 
ton had  five  seats  to  dispose  of 

M,  A.  Taylor,  M.P.,  to  Sir  Robert  Wilson. 

"Cantley,  nth  Sept. 

".  .  .  All  my  accustomed  correspondents  are 
absent  from  town ;  I  therefore  have  nothing  from  the 
great  emporium  of  news.  While  Canning  is  viewing 
the  scenery  of  the  Lakes,  and  the  King  is  fishing  in  a 
punt  upon  Virginia  Water,  I  am  bound  to  suppose 
there  is  no  tempest  upon  the  political  ocean.  1  wish 
that  Ferdinand  [King  of  Spain]  was  hanged — Roths- 
child, Baring  and  all  the  gambling  crew  in  the  Gazette 
— the  Sultan  driven  forth  from  Constantinople — his 
wives  and  concubines  let  loose — that  balloons  were 
actual  and  safe  conveyances,  and  that  I  had  a  villa  in 
the  Thracian  Bosphorus.  ..." 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"Cantley,  21  Sept.  1825. 

"...  Mrs.  Taylor  has  had  an  interview  with  the 
Countess  [of  Darlington]  upon  my  case.  Shesaid  she 
now  spoke  with  Lord  Darlington's  authority — that 
what  she  said  must  be  considered  as  coming  from 
himself  It  was,  therefore,  matter  of  deep  regret  to 
him  that  Mrs.  Taylor  had  not  mentioned  Mr.  Creevey's 
case  till  his  Parliamentary  arrangements  were  all  made, 
which  unfortunately  they  now  were,  and  that  all  that 
remained  for  him  now  to  say  was  that  the  first  vacancy 
which  happened  in  any  seat  of  his,  Mr.  Creevey  should 
have  it,  and  that  he  never  should  be  without  one. 
Now  ;  altho'  reversionary  prospects  for  a  gentleman 
in  his  58th  year  are  no  very  brilliant  matters,  yet  I  think 
it  is  all  mighty  well  .  .  .  and  as  she  has  once  taken 
me  and  my  concerns  into  her  holy  keeping,  when  we 
come  to  cement  the  connection  with  a  tew  gambols  at 


1S25-36.]  LAMBTON    REVISITED.  433 

Raby,  she  may  perhaps  open  the  Earl's  eyes  to  an 
interest  in  some  borough  which  he  never  thought  of 
before.  .  .  .  We  were  23  at  dinner  to-day,  to  say 
nothing  of  a  buck  from  Ld.  Tankerville,  another  from 
Lambton,  a  third  from  Ld.  Darlington,  half  a  one  from 
Lord  Fitzwilliam,  another  half  from  Ld.  Tavistock ; 
not  to  mention  a  turtle — also  a  present,  and  pines 
without  end." 

"  Cantley,  Sept.  29. 

"...  What  a  devil  of  a  good  hand  Mrs.  Taylor  is  for 
living  in  a  storm  .  .  .  She  was  evidently  much  pleased 
with  her  grandee  of  a  niece  *  taking  the  amiable  and 
dutiful  line  to  her  aunt  as  she  did.  .  .  .  There  are 
usually  only  three  balls,  but,  as  Lady  Londonderry 
justly  observed  to  Mrs.  Taylor,  that  it  must  be  very 
dull  for  people  to  stay  at  home  in  their  lodgings  on  the 
Tuesday  and  Thursday  evenings,  she  got  up  publick 
balls  for  these  nights  also,  and  at  all  five  balls  she 
[Lady  Londonderry]  was  there  the  first  and  went 
away  the  last  .  .  .  and  the  result  was  every  one  was 
charmed  with  her.  ..." 

Despite  the  evil  impression  Creevey  had  received 
upon  his  first  visit  to  Lambton,  he  returned  there  for 
the  races  in  the  following  year.  His  report  thereon 
to  Miss  Ord  contains,  as  usual,  some  curious  particu- 
lars of  the  menage. 

"Lambton,  24th  Oct.,  1825. 

"...  Altho'  our  King  Jog  did  receive  me  so 
graciously  yesterday  .  .  .  the  sunshine  was  of  very 
limited  duration.  You  must  know  by  a  new  ordinance 
livery  servants  are  proscribed  the  dining-room  ;  so  our 
Michael  and  Frances  [Ta3'lor]  were  none  the  better 
for  their  two  Cantley  iootmen,  and  this  was  the  case 
too  with  Mrs.  General  Grey,  whom  I  handed  out  to 
dinner.  .  .  .  Soup  was  handed  round — from  where, 
God  knows ;  but  before  Lambton  stood  a  dish  with 
one  small  haddock  and  three  small  whitings  in  it, 
which  he  instantly  ordered  off  the  table,  to  avoid  the 

*  The  Marchioness  of  Londondci ly,  a  very  great  lady  indeed,  who 
was  staying  at  Cantley  with  her  aunt,  Mrs.  Taylor,  for  Doncastcr  races. 


434  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Cn.  XVII. 

trouble  of  helping.  Mrs.  Grey  and  myself  were  at 
least  ten  minutes  without  any  prospect  of  getting  an}'- 
servant  to  attend  to  us,  altho'  I  made  repeated  applica- 
tion to  Lambton,  who  was  all  this  time  eating  his  own 
fish  as  comfortably  as  could  be.  So  my  blood  begin- 
ning to  boil,  I  said  : — '  Lambton,  I  wish  you  would  tell 
me  what  quarter  I  am  to  apply  to  for  some  fish.'  To 
which  he  replied  in  the  most  impertinent  manner : — 
'The  servant,  I  suppose.'  I  turned  to  Mills  and  said 
pretty  loud : — '  Now,  if  it  was  not  for  the  fuss  and 
jaw  of  the  thing,  I  would  leave  the  room  and  the 
house  this  instant';  and  I  dwelt  on  the  damned  out- 
rage. Mills  said: — 'He  hears  every  word  you  say'; 
to  which  I  said :  '  I  hope  he  does.'  ...  It  was  a 
regular  scene.  .  .  ." 

"  Nov.  3,  Newton  House  [Earl  of  Darlington's]. 

".  .  .  In  taking  leave  of  Lambton,  let  me  observe 
once  for  all  that  nothing  could  be  better  than  Lad}^ 
Louisa,*  in  her  quiet  way,  to  everybody.  In  every 
respect  and  upon  all  occasions  she  is  a  very  sensible, 
discreet  person.  .  .  .  Nothing  on  earth  can  be  more 
■natural  and  comfortable  than  we  all  are  here.  The 
size  of  the  house,  as  well  as  of  the  party,  makes  it 
more  of  a  domestic  concern  than  it  is  at  Raby,  and 
both  he  and  she  shine  excessively  in  this  point  of 
view.  As  for  her  [Lady  Darlington]  I  consider  her  a 
miracle.  To  see  a  '  bould  face '  turn  into  a  countess, 
living  in  this  beautiful  house  of  her  own,  and  never  to 
shew  the  slightest  sign  of  being  set  up,  is  so  unlike 
all  others  of  the  kind  I  have  seen,  that  she  must  be  a 
very  sensible  woman.  Then  she  is  so  clean,  and  she 
is  looking  so  beautiful  at  present.  .  .  ," 

"  Thorp  Perrow  [Mr.  Milbank's],  Nov.  8. 

"Well — now  for  Milbank  and  Ly.  Augusta f — or 
Gusty,  as  he  calls  her.  Their  house  is  in  every  way 
vvorthy  of  them — a  great,  big,  fat  house  three  stories 
high.  .  .  .  All   the   living   rooms   are   on  the  ground 

*  Mr.   Lambton's   second   wife.      She    was    Lady    Louisa   Grey, 
daughter  of  the  2nd  Earl  Grey. 

t  .\  daughter  of  Lord  Darlington. 


1825-26.]      CREEVEY  AS  AN  AUTHOR.         435 

floor,  one  a  veiy  handsome  one  about  50  feet  long, 
with  a  great  bow  furnished  with  rose-colored  satin, 
and  the  whole  furniture  of  which  cost  ;^4000.  Every 
thing  is  of  a  piece — excellent  and  plentiful  dinners,  a 
fat  service  of  plate,  a  fat  butler,  a  table  with  a  barrel 
of  oysters  and  a  hot  pheasant,  &c.,  wheeled  into  the 
drawing  room  every  night  at  h  past  ten  .  .  .  but 
our  events  for  record  are  few.  ...  In  answer  to  your 
question  about  Brancepeth  Castle,  it  belonged  to 
Mrs.  Taylor's  uncle,  Mr.  Tempest.  .  .  .  Having  left  it 
to  his  nephew.  Sir  Harry  Vane,  the  latter  sold  it  to 
Russell,  who  has  rebuilt  the  whole  ancient  castle. 
.  .  .  Few  people  could  devote  ;^8o,ooo  per  ann.  to 
accomplish  the  job  as  Russell  did.  Lord  Londonderry 
told  Ly,  Ramsden  he  wished  he  had  never  taken 
Frances  [Lady  Londonderry]  there,  for  she  had  raved 
of  nothing  else  ever  since,  and  was  quite  out  of  heart 
with  all  they  are  doing  at  Wynyard ;  and  Frances  is 
quite  right.  " 

At  this  time  Mr.  Creevey  was  much  taken  up 
in  preparing  for  publication  a  series  of  letters  on 
Reform  addressed  to  Lord  John  Russell.  He  sub- 
mitted the  proofs  to  Brougham  for  approval,  and  his 
letters  to  Miss  Ord  are  full  of  references  to  the 
forthcoming  work.  "You  know,"  he  writes,  "one  is 
always  occupied  at  the  last  in  twisting  and  twining 
about  sentences  in  one's  head  to  try  if  one  can  make 
them  look  better."  The  letters  were  published  by 
Ridgway  early  in  1826  in  the  form  of  a  pamphlet. 


Ecu-/  of  Scfton  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

''  Croxtcth,  Oct.  2,  1825. 

"...  I  cannot  help  congratulating  you  upon  your 
conversion  to  reform.  I  have  been  long  convinced 
that  nothing  else  will  bring  down  taxation  and  tythes, 
and  therefore  would  not  give  a  farthing  for  an}-  other 
remed3\  ...  I  hear  our  friend  the  Bear  Ellice  must  be 
a  bankrupt ;  he  is  trying  to  defer  the  evil  day,  but  fall 


436  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVII. 

he  must.  Did  you  read  Cobbett's  life  of  Canning  in 
the  Statcsniaii  ?  What  the  devil  does  he  mean  by  all 
at  once  being  so  completely  mollified,  and  compli- 
menting his  talents  and  beauty?  .  .  .  Nothing  can 
exceed  the  distress  here  among  the  farmers :  40  per 
cent,  reduction  of  rents  is  the  lowest  they  talk  of,  and 
even  then  I  don't  believe  they  will  be  able  to  pay  the 
remainder.  Little  Derby  is  very  sore.  Old  Black- 
burne  *  begins  to  think  everything  is  not  quite  right ; 
he  even  goes  so  far  as  to  say  he  does  not  see  how  it 
will  all  end." 

The  year  1826  opened  upon  a  very  different  scene 
to  the  preceding  one.  Activity  in  all  branches  of 
industry  had  brought  about  the  usual  results  in  head- 
long speculation  and  over  production.  A  period  of 
depression  and  inactivity  followed  in  due  sequence 
upon  the  wave  of  prosperity,  so  that  the  autumn 
witnessed  the  failure  of  many  country  banks  and  the 
collapse  of  many  commercial  houses.  The  Roman 
Catholic  agitation  in  Ireland  was  becoming  formidable ; 
amendments  were  moved  to  the  Address  in  both  Houses 
calling  upon  the  Government  to  repeal  or  revise  the 
Corn  Laws,  and  thereby  alleviate  the  general  distress, 
and  the  commercial  panic  had  to  be  dealt  w4th  by 
legislation  on  the  currency.  "  The  political  sky  looks 
very  cloudy,"  wrote  Mr.  Croker  to  Lord  Hertford; 
"the  three  C's — Corn,  Currency  and  Catholics — will 
perplex  if  not  dissolve  the  Government."  As  regards 
the  currency,  a  measure  was  passed  prohibiting  the 
circulation  of  bank  notes  for  less  than  £$  face  value. 
Scotland  successfully  resisted  this  restriction,  and 
enjoys  her  £\  notes  to  this  day,  but  these  disappeared 
entirely  from  England. 

The    Corn  Laws    were    more    thorny   matter    to 

*  John  Blackburne  of  Orford  Hall  [1754-1833],  M.P.  for  Lancashire 
for  46  years. 


1825-26.]  LADY   GREY'S    VIEWS.  437 

handle ;  nevertheless,  in  May  an  Act  was  passed  per- 
mitting the  importation  of  500,000  quarters  of  foreign 
wheat,  irrespective  of  the  current  price  in  English 
markets  at  the  time.  Thus  was  the  gauntlet  thrown 
down  between  the  rival  interests  of  agriculture  and 
manufacture — the  land  and  the  towns ;  presenting  a 
difficult  and  disagreeable  dilemma  for  the  great  Whig 
landowners,  and  driving  a  wedge  deep  into  the  Tory 
phalanx,  which  had  so  long  withstood  external  assault. 


Countess  Grey  to  Mrs.  Taylor. 

"  Tuesday  [February,  1826]. 

".  .  .  Things  are  worse  and  worse  in  the  City.  I 
have  just  had  a  note  from  thence,  and  this  day  all  the 
things  in  the  Stocks  have  fallen  worse  than  ever. 
Every  soul  to  whom  a  shilling  is  due  comes  to  ask  for 
it.  In  short,  it  is  a  fearful  time.  As  to  the  opinions 
on  the  £\  and  £2  notes  business,  people  are  so  divided 
that  it  is  impossible  to  come  at  the  truth.  Sir  Robert 
Wilson,  Brougham,  Lord  Lansdowne  are  with  Minis- 
ters, and  even  Lord  Dacre;  then  others — the  strongest 
of  the  Tories — are  against  them.  Lord  Auckland 
thinks  it  ruin  to  us  all,  and  even  those  who  vote  for 
it  say  that  it  will  make  things  worse  for  the  present. 
Ld.  Dacre  says  that  he  makes  up  his  mind  to  get  no 
rents  for  2  or  3  years,  but  that  he  thinks  it  will 
eventually  do  good.  I  understand  nothing  about  it, 
but  dislike  it  if  it  will  prevent  us  receiving  rents,  which 
seems  allowed  on  all  hands. 

"  Last  night  Harriet  had  her  ccarte  party,  and  it 
was  very  good  and  very  agreeable,  except  that  I  lost 
my  ^10,  which  made  me  rather  blue. 

"There  is  a  strong  report  of  the  Chancellor  [Eldon] 
going  out.  Gifford,  it  is  supposed,  cannot  be  Chan- 
cellor, as  all  the  Bar  declare  him  incompetent,  and  he 
himself  feels  it.  Copley  is  trying,  but  they  sa3''  it  is 
impossible,  as  he  is  not  a  Chancery  man.*     Some  say 

*  Nevertheless,  he  became  Chancellor  [Lord  Lyndhurst]  in  the 
following-  year. 


438  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVII. 

that  our  Leach  iniist  get  it,  as  he  is  the  only  one  who 
can  do  the  business.  I  think  it  more  likely  that  the 
Seals  will  be  put  in  commission.  If  Leach  gets  it,  Mr, 
Vane  is  sure  to  get  the  best  thing  going.  He  told  me 
so  long  since.  To  be  sure,  we  won't  get  all  the  best 
things  for  all  our  friends,  and  if  he  don't  obey  we  will 
neither  dine  with  him  nor  allow  him  to  play  at  ccarte. 
Lady  Elizabeth  [Conyngham's]  marriage  still  drags  on. 
She  now  says  she  cannot  think  of  fixing  a  time  for  it, 
as  she  cannot  make  up  her  mind  to  quit  her  mother; 
that  is — Lady  C[onyngham]  puts  this  into  her  mouth, 
and  then  says: — 'It  is  so,  is  it  not,  Tissy?' — 'Yes, 
mama,'  answers  she.  ...  I  hear  from  those  who  have 
been  there  that  the  Cottage  *  is  more  dull  than  ever : 
that  Lady  C.  throws  herself  back  on  the  sofa  and  never 
speaks  ;  and  the  opinion  is  (which  I  don't  believe)  that 
she  hates  Kiiigy.  We  have  just  got  over  Shoenfeld,  the 
man  who  fought  with  Cradock  about  Mme.  de  G[enlis] 
and  Mme.  de  Firmagon.  The  Dauphine  at  Lady  Gran- 
ville's ball  said  to  him  : — '  Monsieur,  quand  partez- 
vous?'  which  was  reckoned  a  conge,  and  he  was  in 
consequence  sent  here  as  attache  to  Esterhazy.  He  is 
all  whiskers  and  white  teeth,  and  evidently  means  to 
be  a  ladykiller,  and,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  will  succeed. 
I  find  that  he  was  with  Esterhazy  at  the  ver}^  time  we 
were  living  so  much  with  the  Princesse,  and  that  he 
used  to  dine  every  day  with  us  all,  at  the  bottom  of 
the  table.  So  little  effect  did  he  make,  that  we  never 
saw  the  animal ;  but  he  has  now  gotten  a  new  applique 
in  the  shape  of  a  top  knot,  and  passes  oiT  for  a  youth 
a  bonnes  fortunes,  which  is  very  amusing.  ...  I  am 
happy  to  tell  you  that  a  serious  phalanx  is  arranging 
for  the  Age  newspaper.  About  6  or  7  people  are  going 
to  prosecute — Mr.  Fox  Lane  for  his  wife,  who  they 
chose  to  say  'had  exposed  herself  in  her  box  at  the 
Opera  with  Poodle  Byng.'  She  had  not  seen  him  even 
by  accident  for  8  months,  and  then  only  in  the  streets  ; 
and  on  the  very  night  mentioned  she  was  sitting  over 
her  own  fire  with  her  father  and  brother ! 

"  Lord  Kirkwall,t  it  is  said,  marries  Lord  Boston's 

*  George  I  V.'s  cottai^e  at  Virginia  Water,  where  Lady  Conyngham 
resided. 

t  Afterwards  5th  Earl  of  Orkney. 


1825-26.]    LORD  J.  RUSSELL  ON  REFORM.        439 

daughter.  The  Belfasts  have  bought  Lord  Boston's 
house  in  my  street.  .  .  .  Houses  are  dearer  than  ever. 
Theirs  will  stand  them  furnished  in  ;^400  a  year.  .  .  . 
If  1  dared,  I  would  entreat  of  you  to  take  no  more  blue 
pill.  1  think  that  you  are  ruining  yourself,  but  I  know^ 
that  you  have  no  faith  in  my  knowledge  of  medicine  ; 
but  what  can  be  so  bad  as  to  take  medicine  to  that 
excess  as  to  bring  on  such  misery  as  to  affect  the 
mouth.*  .  .  ." 

Earl  of  Sefton  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

''13th  Feby. 

"...  I  dined  yesterday  with  old  Sussex.  After 
dinner  he  proposed  Stephenson's  and  Lady  Mary 
Keppel's  healths,!  and  thus  announced  that  most  in- 
teresting and  opulent  alliance.  Albemarle  was  there, 
and  seemed  contented.  I  hear  old  Coke  is  furious 
about  it.ij:  .  .  .  We  shall  have  a  division  on  Robinson's 
plan.§  Most  of  the  Oppn.  wall  vote  for  him.  I  cer- 
tainly shall.     We  are  gone  too  far  to  recede." 

"Alnwick,  Feby.  25,  1826. 

"...  1  send  you  an  interesting  scrap  I  received  last 
night  from  the  tip-top  reformer  of  all — Lord  John 
Russell.  I  had  desired  Ridgway  to  send  him  a  copy 
of '  the  Work,'  and  at  the  same  time  I  wrote  him  [Lord 
J.  R.]  a  few  lines  myself  It  was  always  one  of  my 
hobbies  on  this  subject  to  make  little  Johnny's  speech 
for  him,  knowing  that  my  materials  were  much  better 
than  any  he  had  ever  produced,  or  had  the  means  of 
producing.  So  I  was  quite  sure,  if  I  succeeded,  he 
would  be  gravelled,  and  it  is  quite  clear  he  is  so,  and 
1  am  glad  of  it,  for  he  is  a  conceited  little  puppy.  If 
he  is  so  complimentary  as  to  think  the  work 'calculated 
to  do  good  when  money  ceases  to  be  uppermost,'  I 

*  By  salivation. 

t  Henry  Frederick  Stephenson,  natural  son  of  the  nth  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  private  secretary'  to  H.R.H,  the  Duke  of  Sussex,  married 
Lady  Mary  Keppel,  3rd  daughter  of  the  4th  Earl  of  Albemarle. 

X  Mr.  Coke  of  Holkham  had  married  Lady  Anne  Keppel,  an  elder 
daughter  of  Lord  Albemarle's. 

§  The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer's  Currency  Bill. 

2    II 


440  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVII. 

wonder  when  he  thinks  his  speeches  upon  Reform  will 
come  into  pla}'  as  doing  good  ! " 


Mr.  Creevcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"Brancepeth  Castle,  March  13,  1826. 
**.  .  .  Tho'  I  say  it  who  should  not  say  it,  I  don't 
think  I  ever  followed  faster  hounds  than  my  friend 
Russell's,  nor  did  I  ever  see  a  more  beautiful  run, 
nor  a  fox  more  gallantly  run  into  and  killed.  I  was 
in  at  the  death,  i  assure  you.  .  .  .  Oh  what  a  house 
this  is  for  beautiful  apartments  and  comforts  without 
end  !  O'Callaghan,  who  knows  Lowther  well,  says 
it  is  not  to  be  mentioned  in  the  same  year  with  it — 
such  perfect  good  taste  in  everything,  and  the  man 
who  did  it  all  just  lived  in  it  seven  months.  .  .  ." 

"  London,  March  20th. 
".  .  .  I  have  just  been  at  Ridgway's  for  the  first 
time,  and  altho'  1  am  only  in  a  2nd  edition,*  I  know  1 
am  in  port.  Hobhouse,t  who,  you  know,  is  a  brother 
author,  told  me  yesterday  unasked  that  it  was  unique 
and  quite  unanswerable,  and  so  he  intended  to  say  on 
Lord  John  Russell's  motion  next  month.  .  .  .  This  I 
shall  immediately  follow  up  by  putting  my  name 
to  it." 

*'  London,  March  21. 

"  Never  did  I  see  anything  like  the  town  for 
dulness.  .  .  .  The  only  thing  going  on  is  at  Ly. 
Tankerville's  and  a  few  other  houses,  where  ladies 
of  easy  virtue  meet  every  night,  and  as  many  dandies 
as  the  town  can  supply.  Ecartc  is  the  universal  go 
with  them — the  men  winning  and  losing  hundreds  a 
night ;  and  as  the  ladies  play  guineas,  their  settlement 
each  night  cannot  be  a  small  one.  I  met  Vesuvius  | 
yesterday,  who  came  up  to  me  open-mouthed  about 
my  zvork.  He  said  a  review  of  it  would  appear  very 
shortly  in  the  IVestuiinstcr  Review.  ...  I  saw  little 
white-faced  Lord  John  [Russell]  too,  but  not  a  word 
of  compliment  from ///;;/.  .  .  ." 

•  Of  his  pamphlet  on  Reform. 

t  John  Cam  Ilobhouse,  M.P.  [1776-1854], created  Lord  Broiighton 
in  1 851  :  a  copious  writer.  %  Hon.  Douglas  Kinnaird. 


1825-26.]      CANNING   AND    THE    OPPOSITION.  44! 

"April  14th. 

"...  I  was  in  time  to  hear  Hobhouse  tell  Canning 
that  it  was  with  real  heartfelt  pain  that  he  still  heard 
from  him  his  deliberate  opinion  against  all  parlia- 
mentary reform,  because  he  [Hobhouse]  was  one  of 
a  great  portion  of  this  country  who  looked  to  him 
with  gratiliuic  and  affection  for  his  conduct  since  he 
came  into  office,  which  would  amount  to  VENERA- 
TION if  he  would  but  give  way  upon  this  vital 
question ! ! !  And  this  from  a  man  who  took  such 
pains  to  insult  Canning  by  a  picture  of  him  three  or 
four  years  ago  in  the  House  !  To  do  some  part  of 
the  House  justice,  this  affectionate  address  was  re- 
ceived with  a  very  marked  titter  .  .  .  from  the  Old 
Tories  at  the  expense  of  both  Hobhouse  and  Can- 
ning. Lord  Rosslyn  satisfied  me  afterwards  by  /ads 
that  nothing  can  equal  the  rage  of  the  Old  Tory 
Highflyers  at  the  liberal  jaw  of  Canning  and  Huskis- 
son.  ...  I  saw  Brougham,  w-ho  told  me  that  bv  some 
accident  tho.  letters  to  Lord  John  Russell*  would  not 
be  reviewed  in  the  next  number  of  the  Edinbord 
Review,  which  had  been  in  the  press  for  a  fortnight. 
1  beg  you  will  suppress  your  indignation,  as  I  do,  at 
this  monstrous  piece  of  perfidy  and  villainy,  consider- 
ing all  that  has  passed  between  him  and  me  on  the 
subject.  ...  I  dined  at  Sefton's  yesterda3\  Bold 
York  dined  with  them  the  last  time  as  usual,  and  I 
trust  will  do  so  again,  but  his  life  is  considered  in 
great  jeopardy.  To  think  of  these  tw^o  men — him  and 
his  brother,  the  King — both  turned  60,  and  terrible 
bad  lives,  having  new  palaces  building  for  them ! 
The  Duke  of  York's  is  150  feet  by  130  outside,  with 
40  compleat  sleeping  apartments,  and  all  this  for  a 
single  man.  .  .  .  Billy  Clarence,t  too,  is  rigging  up 
in  a  small  way  in  the  stable-yard,  but  that  is  doing 
by  the  Government." 

"  April  26tli,  Newmarket  [at  Lord  Sefton's]. 

".  ,  .  My  racing  campaign  is  over  for  the  present, 
afi^'^I.havc  had  four  very  agreeable  days — vers*  good 
sp.9jft  each  day,  and  one's  time  one  way  and  another 

*  I.f.  Crecvey's  pamphlet  on  Reform.  t  William  iVt 


44"  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVII. 

quite  occupied.  .  .  .  We  have  had  Jersey,  Shelley,  F. 
Russell,  Ld.  Wilton,  Bob  Grosvenor,  Lord  Titchfield 
and  Lord  George  Bentinck,  Lady  Caroline  and  Paw- 
lett,  Mills,  Irby,  Wortley  and  his  son,  different  days. 
Wortley  is  dying  for  me  to  pair  off  with  him,  but  I 
must  do  my  duty  you  know.  ...  I  start  per  coach  at 
^  past  ten,  and  as  the  distance  is  only  60  miles,  I  hope 
to  be  in  time  for  Michael  [TaylorJ's  dinner." 

*'  May  3rd. 

"...  I  was  one  of  the  majority  last  night  in  sup- 
port of  his  Majesty's  Ministers  for  cheaper  corn  than 
the  landed  grandees  will  now  favor  us  with.  ...  It 
certainly  is  the  boldest  thing  that  ever  was  attempted 
by  a  Government — after  deprecating  any  discussion 
on  the  Corn  Laws  during  the  present  session,  to  try 
at  the  end  of  it  to  carry  a  Corn  Law  of  their  own  by 
a  coitp-dc-inain,  and  to  hold  out  the  landed  grandees 
as  the  enemies  of  the  manufacturing  population  if 
they  oppose  it.  ...  If  a  good  ultra-Tory  Govern- 
ment could  be  made.  Canning  and  Huskisson  must 
inevitably  be  ruined  by  this  daring  step.  You  never 
heard  such  language  as  the  old  sticklers  apply  to 
them  ;  and,  unhappily  for  Toryism,  that  prig  Peel 
seems  as  deeply  bitten  by  *  liberality,'  in  every  way 
but  on  the  Catholic  question,  as  any  of  his  fellows. 
I  was  laughing  with  Lord  Dudley  under  the  gallery 
at  this  curious  state  of  things,  who  said  if  the  Duke 
of  York  wd.  but  come  down  to  the  House  of  Lords 

and   declare   that  '  so   help   him   G ,  corn   should 

never  be  under  805.,'  he  would  drive  this  Radical 
Government  to  the  devil  in  an  instant." 

"  May  5. 

".  .  .  Well — the  villains  jibbed  after  all.  ...  In 
language  the  Ministers  are  everything  we  could  wish, 
but  in  measures  they  dare  not  go  their  lengths  for  fear 
of  being  beat,  as  undoubtedly  they  would.  Indeed  it 
is  very  doubtful  if  even  this  temporising  scheme  of 
letting  in  500,000  quarters  of  corn,  in  the  cvmt  of 
scareit}',  will  go  down  in  the  Lords.  ...  I  never^  s^w 
anything  like  the  fury  of  both  Whig  and  Tory  land- 
holders at  Canning's  speech  ;   but  the   Tories  .much 


1835-26.]  THE    CORN    LAWS.  443 

the  most  violent  of  the  two.  ...   It  is  considered,  in 
short,  as  a  breaking  down  of  the  Corn  Laws." 

"  8th. 
".  .  .  The  land  has  rallied  in  the  most  boisterous 
manner.  The  new  scheme  is  considered  as  a  regular 
humbug,  and  a  perfect  insult  to  the  agncultural  intel- 
lect In  short,  Canning  and  Huskisson  are  rising  (or 
falling)  hourly  in  the  execration  of  all  lovers  of  high 
prices,  Whig  and  Tory,  but  particularly  the  latter.  .  .  ." 

"  nth. 

".  .  .  On  Monday  we  beat  the  land  black  and  blue 
about  letting  in  foreign  corn ;  but  the  Lords,  it  is  said, 
are  not  to  be  so  easily  beat  as  the  booby  squires. 
There  is  to  be  a  grand  fight  —  the  Ministers  and 
Bishops  against  the  Rutlands,  Beauforts,  Hertfords, 
&c.  Liverpool  gives  out  that,  if  he  is  beat,  he  will 
give  up  the  Government,  which  may  be  safely  said,  as 
there  is  no  one  else  to  take  it." 

"  1 2th. 

".  .  .  Well,  you  see  the  landholders,  high  and  low, 
are  the  same  mean  devils,  and  alike  incapable  of  fight- 
ing when  once  faced  by  a  Government  without  any 
land  at  all.  Was  there  ever  such  a  rope  of  sand  as 
the  House  of  Lords  last  night?  to  be  beat  by  3  to  i 
after  all  their  blustering.  .  .  ." 

"  13th. 
".  .  ,  Sefton  and  I  voted  differently  on  the  late 
measures  in  our  House  ;  but,  to  do  him  justice,  no 
one  is  more  amused  at  the  contemptible  figure  and 
compleat  defeat  of  both  Squires  and  Lords.  The 
charm  of  the  power  of  the  Landed  Interest  is  gone ; 
and  in  a  new  Parliament  Canning  and  Huskisson 
may  effect  whatever  revolution  they  like  in  the  Corn 
Laws.  .  .  ." 

"  23rd. 

"...   I  dined  with  poor  Kinnaird  yesterday,  and 

the  sight  of  such   persons  as  him  and   her  in   their 

present   condition   is   as   striking  a  moral    lesson   as 

the  world  can  furnish.     He  is  the  only  man  of  real 


444  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVII. 

genuine  vivacity  I  know  left  in  the  world ;  and,  wreck 
as  he  is,  he  still  preserves  the  lead  in  that  depart- 
ment. He  is  doomed  to  death,  and  his  sufferings  are 
dreadful.  Sefton  drove  down  Alava,  Douglas  Kin- 
naird  and  myself;  we  were  shown  into  his  bedroom, 
where  he  lies  upon  a  couch,  with  a  covering  over 
every  part  of  him  but  his  head  and  arms ;  and  then  he 
was  wheeled  in  to  dinner.  .  .  .  Then  to  look  at  her — 
a  perfect  shadow,  living,  as  it  were,  by  stealth  like- 
wise ;  and  to  think  of  what  she  was  when  the  whole 
play-house  at  Dublin  used  to  rise  and  applaud  when- 
ever her  sister.  Lady  Foley,  and  herself  used  to  enter 
the  house,  in  admiration  of  their  beauty  only,  and  not 
their  rank,  for  they  did  so  to  no  others  of  the  Leinster 
family.  ...  It  is  just  20  years  since  I  saw  old  Fox 
with  his  white  favor  in  his  hat  upon  the  marriage  of 
his  cousin  Lady  Olivia  Fitzgerald  with  Kinnaird.' 


(     445     ) 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

1827. 

The  hour,  long  expected  and  prepared  for  by  Canning, 
at  length  struck.  The  public  service  of  Lord  Liverpool 
was  brought  to  a  close  by  his  fatal  illness  in  February, 
1827.  Undoubtedly,  by  experience,  brilliant  oratory, 
and  commanding  ability,  there  was  no  one  in  the  Tory 
ranks  on  the  same  level  with  Canning.  There  were 
impediments,  arising  both  from  the  King's  distrust  of 
Canning  on  the  Roman  Catholic  question,  and  the 
distrust  of  his  own  colleagues — Wellington,  Eldon, 
Peel,  &c. — upon  that  and  other  grounds.  Canning 
occupied  in  the  Ministerial  party  much  the  same 
elevation  as  Brougham  did  in  the  Opposition  :  every- 
body paid  tribute  to  the  talents  of  botli  men,  but 
nobody  trusted  them  or  imagined  that  either  of  them 
had  much  in  view  except  his  own  aggrandisement. 

The  most  powerful  engine  of  statecraft  in  the 
Georgian  era  was  patronage ;  and  although  those 
great  hotbeds  of  patronage,  the  Bar  and  the  Arm}-, 
were  in  the  grasp  of  his  High  Tory  colleagues,  Eldon 
and  Wellington,  Canning  had  used  his  influence  over 
Liverpool  with  judicious  foresiglit.  He  had  secured 
the  Lord  High  Stewardship  for  Lord  Conyngham,  and 
the  Under-Secretaryship  of  Foreign  Affairs  for  his 
son.  Lord  Moimt  Charles,  thereby  earning  for  himself 
Lady  Conyngham's  paramount  influence  at  Court. 
Nor  did  he  neglect  (and   none  knew  better  than  he 


44^  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVIII. 

how  to  cultivate)  the  good  graces  of  Madame 
de  Lieven  and  the  King's  physician,  Sir  William 
Knighton.  With  these  cards  in  his  hand,  he  played 
a  strong  game  against  tremendous  odds.  One  cannot 
but  admire  the  skill  and  nerve  of  the  player,  however 
much  one  may  deplore  the  temper  displayed  by  his 
formidable  opponent,  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  who, 
when  he  found  himself  outVvHtted,  threw  up  the 
command  of  the  Army.  Creevey,  as  a  bystander,  saw 
a  good  deal  of  the  game. 

Mr.  Crccvey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"Brooks's,  Fcby.  lo,  1827. 

".  .  .  As  Scroop  *  was  very  gracious,  I  said  I  must 
ask  him  if  what  I  heard  was  true,  that  the  Duke  of 
Clarence  said  to  him  at  the  [Duke  of  York's]  funeral 
that  he  hoped  before  long  to  see  him  in  the  House  of 
Lords.t  He  said  it  was  not  at  the  funeral,  but  when 
the  King  was  last  at  the  House  of  Lords,  when  he 
[Clarence]  did  say  so  to  him  in  the  hearing  of  Lord 
Gwydir,  and  shaking  his  hand  most  heartily  at  the 
same  time : — '  But,'  said  the  Duke  [of  Norfolk],  '  1 
ought  to  add  that  he  said  precisely  the  same  thing  to 
me  at  the  Coronation,  and  then  voted  against  us  on 
the  very  first  opportunity ! '  So  our  Billy  is  a  wag,  is 
he  not?  ..." 

"i3thEeby. 

".  .  .  Tyrwhitt  continues  to  see  the  King  at  all 
times,  in  his  bed  as  well  as  out  of  it.  .  .  .  He  says  that 
Knighton  is  the  greatest  villain  as  well  as  the  lowest 
blackguard  that  lives,  as  well  as  the  most  vindictive 
chap.  He  is  eternally  upon  the  watch,  and  more  than 
ever  during  Tom's  [Tyrwhitt's]  tcte-a-tetc.  He  came  in 
without  knocking,  and  planted  himself  at  the  bottom 
of  the  bed,  Prinney  observing  when  he  saw  him  : — 
'  Damme,  I  thought  you  had  been  at  the  other  end  of 

*  The  1 2th  Duke  of  Norfolk. 

t  The  Duke  of  Norfolk  was  debarred  as  a  Roman  Catholic  from 
silting  in  the  House  of  Lords. 


I827-]  LIVERPOOL'S   LAST    ILLNESS.  447 

the  town  ! '  In  the  course  of  this  conversation,  Prinnev 
said  : — '  I  wish  my  Ministers  would  leave  off  this  new 
fashion  of  giving  ambassadors  leave  of  absence  from 
their  stations.  Here  is  my  Lord  Bloomfield,  I  find, 
has  got  leave  from  his  right  honorable  friend  and 
Secretary  Canning  to  come  home ;  but  if  he  comes 
to  me,  I'll  take  care  to  hurry  him  out  again.'* 

"  It  w^as  not  amiss  to  hear  the  different  reasons 
assigned  by  Taylor  and  Tom  [Tyrwhitt]  for  the  fall 
of  this  truly  great  man  Bloomfield.  Taylor's  account 
is  direct  from  Denison — alias  Lady  Conyngham,  and 
he  says  that  the  3'ear  the  King  went  to  Ireland,  Bloom- 
field went  first  to  prepare  everything,  and  being  at 
the  play  at  Dublm  when  '  God  save  the  King '  was 
called  for  and  vehemently  applauded,  Bloomfield  was 
kind  enough  to  step  to  the  front  of  the  box  he  was  in, 
and  to  express  by  his  bows  and  gestures  his  deep 
sense  of  gratitude  for  this  distinction,  and  that  this 
being  reported  to  the  Sovereign,  he  never  forgave 
it.  .  .  .  Bloomfield  was  ruined  from  that  moment  if 
you  can  call  a  man  ruined  who,  in  our  recollection 
twenty  years  back,  was  little  better  than  a  common 
footman  ;  and  who,  having  made  himself  a  fortune  by 
palpable  cheating  and  robbery  in  every  department 
he  had  to  do  with,  demands  and  obtains  an  Irish 
peerage,  the  Order  of  the  Bath,  and  an  embassy  to  a 
crowned  head  .  .  .  this,  in  truth,  being  the  price  of 
keeping  his  master's  secrets.*  And  this  is  the  apothe- 
cary Knighton's  hold  too,  he  having  all  that  other 
rogue  McMahon's  papers  and  letters  .  .  ,  Lady 
Beauchamp  gave  McMahon  ;/,"io,ooo  for  getting  her 
husband  advanced  from  a  baron  to  an  earl." 

"Feb.  17. 

".  .  .  Here's  a  business  for  you.  Liverpool  has 
had  a  paralytic  stroke,  so  says  Croker;  but  West- 
morland onh'  admits  that  he  is  not  well.  However 
I  have  no  doubt  Crokcr's  account  is  the  true  one.  .  .  . 

*  Lieut.-Gencral  Benjamin  rjloomficld,  K.A.,  was  successively 
gentleman-attendant,  marshal,  and  chief  equerry  and  private  secretary 
10  George  IV.  as  Prince  of  Wales  and  Prince  Regent.  He  succeeded 
Sir  John  McMahon  in  1S17  as  keeper  of  the  privy  purse,  went  as 
Minister  to  Stockholm  in  1S24,  and  was  created  an  Irish  peer  in  1.S23. 


44S  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVIII. 

It  is  quite  true  about  Ld,  Liverpool.  He  had  a  fit  of 
apoplexy  at  ten  this  morning.  He  is  a  little  better, 
but  politically  dead.  Canning  is  better,  but  has  some 
extraordinary  violent  pain  over  one  eye,  nor  will  he 
be  the  better  for  this  new  excitement.  He'll  be  beat 
as  well  as  Liverpool.  .  .  .  Did  you  ever  see  a  more 
disgraceful  thing  under  all  the  circumstances  of  the 
country  than  this  plunder  of  ^^"9000  a  year  for  our 
Billy,*  after  "having  got  ;if3000  a  year  by  the  Duke  of 
York's  death.  Who  would  be  in  a  place,  without  the 
possibility  of  stopping  such  villainy  ?  Yet  the  division 
was  respectable,  altho'  Mother  Cole  the  leader  and 
Jack  Calcraft  and  others  did  vote  for  the  job.  Holland 
was  under  the  gallery  all  the  time,  canvassing  openly 
in  the  most  disgusting  manner  on  behalf  of  his  dear 
and  illustrious  connection." 

"  19th. 

"  Well — what  is  your  real  opinion  as  to  who  is  to 
supply  Liverpool's  place  ?  I  think  somehow  it  must 
be  Canning  after  all,  and  that  then  h^ II  die  of  it.  .  .  ." 

"  March  5. 

".  .  .  Yesterday  about  3  p.m.  Dandy  Raikes,  who 
is  a  member  of  Brooks's,  but  was  never  seen  there 
before,  having  watched  Brougham  go  in  there,  followed 
him,  and  taking  a  position  with  his  back  to  the  fire, 
said  aloud  : — *  Mr.  Brougham,  I  am  very  much  obliged 
to  you  for  the  speech  you  made  at  my  expence.  I 
don't  know  what  latitude  you  gentlemen  of  the  Bar 
consider  yourselves  entitled  to,  but  I  am  come  here  pur- 
posely to  insult  you  in  the  presence  of  your  club.'  .  .  . 
Brougham  was  eating  some  soup,  and  merely  replied 
with  great  composure  : — '  Mr.  Raikes,  you  have  chosen 
a  strange  place  and  occasion  for  offering  your  insult,' 
and  shortly  after  walked  away,  there  being  present 
about  8  or  10  persons.  I  learnt  this  from  Ferguson, 
who  had  just  entered  Brooks's  as  Raikes  was  con- 
cluding. We  both  agreed  that  Brougham  must  call 
Raikes  out,  and  that  the  latter  must  be  expelled  the 
club  for  the  marvellous  outrage.  ...  In  going  into 
Brooks's  at  5,  which  you  may  suppose  was  pretty  well 

*  H.R.H.  the  Duke  of  Clarence  [William  IV.]. 


1027.]  CHALLENGE   TO    BROUGHAM.  449 

crammed  with  gossipers,  no  tidings  were  to  be  had  of 
our  Bruftam;  but  upon  returning  home  *  I  found  he  had 
been  here  in  jDursuit  of  Fergy ;  and,  having  caught  him, 
had  begged  him  to  carry  a  challenge  for  him  to  Raikes, 
which  the  General  peremptorily''  declined  to  do  upon 
the  grounds  of  having  been  mixed  up  in  so  many  such 
things.  So  Brougham  went  oft^  after  Wilson.  1  learnt 
this  at  six,  and  our  Taylor  and  myself  went  off  at 
seven  to  dine  at  Denison's,  where  we  had  Lords  Say 
and  Scale  and  Reay,  W.  Pawlett,  Ellice,  Ferguson  and 
Stephenson.  Brougham  was  to  have  been  ;  but  as  we 
all  supposed  he  was  otherwise  engaged  we  sat  down 
to  dinner  without  him  ;  tho'  in  about  ten  minutes  in 
he  came,  occupied  a  chair  which  was  next  to  me,  and 
having  talked  exclusively  to  myself  the  whole  night 
upon  every  subject  but  the  one,  I  never  knew  him 
more  agreeable  in  my  life.  Upon  coming  away  at 
eleven,  we  were  to  bring  Fergy  down  here  in  our  coach, 
but  Brougham  stopt  him  ;  and  when  he  followed  us, 
we  found  that  Wilson  had  forwarded  his  challenge  to 
Raikes,  but  that  in  the  meantime  Brougham  had  been 
taken  into  custody,  carried  to  Bow  Street,  and  bound 
over  to  keep  the  peace.  This  had  been  the  handiwork 
of  Jack  the  Painter,  alias  Spring  Rice,  who  was  present 
at  the  row  at  Brooks's,  and  had  taken  himself  off  to 
Bow  Street  immediately  to  inform ;  his  only  object,  I 
have  no  doubt,  being  not  to  lose  Brougham's  vote 
to-night  upon  that  most  vital  of  all  subjects — the 
Catholic  question.  .  .  .  From  the  long  time  that  has 
elapsed  since  Brougham  made  the  offensive  speech  in 
question,  and  from  the  extraordinary  mode  adopted 
by  Raikes  to  insult  him,  I  cannot  but  believe  that  he 
has  been  worked  up  to  this  step  by  such  chaps  as 
Lowther,  Glengall  and  Belfast,  and  that  he  was  made 
to  believe  Brougham  was  a  shy  cock ;  for  Lady  Glengall 
has  always  been  harping  upon  that  tack  of  late,  as  how 
he  was  made  to  marry  Mrs.  Brougham  by  one  of  her 
brothers  upon  a  certain  event  being  known,  and  such 
stuff  as  this.f     Lady  Mary  Butler  has  just  been  here, 

*  Mr.  Crccvey,  on  losing  his  scat  in  I'arliamcnt,  had  taken  up 
permanent  abode  with  his  friends  the  Taylors,  in  Whitehall. 

t  Mrs.  Brougham  was  a  widow — Mrs.  Spalding  of  the  Holm  in 
Galloway — when  she  married  Brougham.  She  was  a  daughter  of 
Sir  William  Eden  of  West  Auckland,  lo.  Durham. 


450  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Cn.  XVIII. 

and  said  that  Mr.  Raikes  was  with  them  last  night, 
and  that  Mr.  Brougham  had  been  arrcstcdy  which  iK}as 
thought  very  odd.  So  he  has  got  into  a  rare  mess  with 
these  devils.  .  .  .  Tankerville  has  just  said  to  me  it  was 
quite  right  in  Spring  Rice  to  inform  Sir  Richard 
Birnie  [?J  of  Brougham  and  Raikes.  He  you  know  is 
the  first  authority  as  a  fighting  man." 

"  March  6th. 

''.  .  .  The  King  comes  to  town  on  Thursday,  deeply 
impregnated,  it  is  said,  with  his  father's  conscientious 
scruples  against  the  Catholics.  .  .  .  Lady  Conyngham 
writes  word  to  her  brother  that  the  great  man  will 
not  permit  any  one  whatever  to  speak  to  him  upon 
the  subject  of  Lord  Liverpool's  illness,  or  who  is  to 
succeed  him.  Moreover,  he  adds  that  he  will  not  be 
spoken  to  about  such  matters /or  5o;;z^:  time  yet  to  come. 
Was  there  ever  such  a  child  or  Bedlamite?  or  were 
there  ever  such  a  set  of  lickspittles  as  his  Ministers  to 
endure  such  conduct?  .  .  ." 

"7th. 

".  .  .  The  Catholic  question  was  lost  by  four  last 
night ;  but  it  was,  in  truth,  a  fight  for  power  and  not 
for  the  Catholics.  ...  So  far  the  business  is  done 
that  the  Cabinet  must  be  broken  up  ;  at  least  it  appears 
impossible  it  should  be  otherwise.  Who  is  to  be 
uppermost  remains  to  be  seen  ;  ultimately,  I  think 
Canning  must  w4n,  tho'  he  would  have  no  chance  if 
the  King  really  has  the  anti-Catholic  feelings  of  his 
father,  and  had  but  a  hundredth  part  of  his  courage. 
But  he  is  a  poor  devil.  ...  In  going  up  to  Audley 
Street  I  called  upon  the  Pet  *  in  Arlington  Street.  .  .  . 
I  think  his  principal  amusement  was  a  note  he  had 
got  from  old  Lady  Salisbury,  in  which  she  says : — 
'  As  I  find  Creevey  can't  dine  with  us  on  Sunday,  sup- 

Eose  we  change  our  day  to  Wednesday,  when  I  hope 
e  will  be  disengaged.  I  leave  it  to  you  to  settle  with 
him.'  So  I  think  to  have  lived  to  be  called  'Creevey' 
by  old  Dow.  Salisbury,  and  to  have  her  dinner  party 
put  off  for  my  convenience,  is  far  beyond  what  any 
mortal  could  have  predicted. 

"Well,  our  Brooks's  parliament  has  just  been 
sitting  in  judgment   on   Dandy   Raikes — an  immense 

*  Lord  Scfton. 


1827.]  CREEVEY   ENJOYS    HIS    FREEDOM.  4M 

meeting,  old  P^itzwilliam  in  the  chair.  It  ended,  as 
it  should  do,  in  Raikes  sending  an  apology  to  the 
club;  but  matters  are  getting  worse  and  worse  as  to 
Brougham,  and  I  see  distinctly  he  will  have  to  fight 
Raikes  after  all.  Kangaroo  Cooke  is  Raikes's  second. 
Dear  Lad}'  Darlington  is  just  come  in  to  us,  and  she 
has  not  a  doubt  but  that  B.  must  cross  the  water  and 
have  this  business  out ;  which,  of  course,  is  her  lord's 
opinion  likewise,  and  so  sa3's  the  town  in  general." 

"  9th. 

".  .  .  The  Monarch  stole  back  to  Windsor  yester- 
day, having  been  fifteen  days  at  Brighton  without 
leaving  his  dressing-room,  or  seeing  the  face  of  a 
single  human  being — servants,  tailors  and  doctors 
excepted.  What  the  devil  is  it  to  come  to?  This  of 
course  is  our  Denison's  account  from  his  sister.  .  .  . 
Old  Billy*  is  much  more  tender  than  any  one  else  in 
his  regrets  about  my  being  out  of  Parliament.  He  is 
always  at  it,  and  before  people.  .  .  .  However,  it  is  all 
mighty  well;  for,  notwithstanding  that  the  Honorable 
House  has  been  at  its  best  this  week  in  the  interest  of 
its  debates  and  the  conflict  of  parties,  I  have  never  felt 
any  other  sentiment  than  that  of  gratification  at  not 

being  there — so  help  me !    Such  feeling,  I  suppose, 

is  partly  idleness,  partly  contempt  for  all  the  per- 
formers, and  a  conviction  from  long  experience  that 
no  possible  good  can  be  effected  by  such  an  assembly, 
to  say  nothing'  of  the  perfidy  of  our  own  chaps  in 
particular,  whenever  a  chance  of  doing  any  good 
arises." 

"We  had  a  rum  dinner  enough  at  Denison's  on 
Saturday  altho'  the  Earl  of  Darlington  was  there,  and 
a  very  merry  one  at  Kensington  [Palace]  on  Sunda}-, 
where  he  and  my  lady  were  likewise,  and  about  14  of 
us.  The  Duke  [of  Sussex]  handed  out  the  Countess, 
the  Earl  Lady  Mary  Stephenson,  and  Mr.  Creevey 
Lady  Cis.  The  Duke  said  : — '  Come,  Creevey,  come 
and  sit  next  to  Lord  Darlington;'  which  of  course  1 
did,  and  he  was  mighty  playful  with  me  all  the  day." 

*  Lord  William  Russell,  brother  of  the  5th  Duke  of  Bedford.  He 
was  murdered  in  1S40  by  his  French  valet  Courvoisicr. 


45-  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVail. 

".  .  :  Duncannon  shewed  me  a  letter  written  by 
the  wife  of  the  jaoler  in  the  county  of  Galway  to  the 
maid  servants  in  Lord  Besborough's  house  in  that 
count}'.  ...  I  think  you  will  admit  it  has  very  pretty 
fun  in  it. 

" '  Mrs.  Murphy's  compliments  to  the  ladies  of 
Wandler  [?].  If  the  maids  would  like  to  see  Sergeant 
Black  hang'd  she  will  be  happy  of  the  honor  of  their 
company  at  breakfast  to-morrow.  I  will  have  the 
pleasure  of  conducting  the  ladies  to  the  gallows.  Mrs. 
Murphy  will  take  care  that  the  execution  shall  be 
deferred  till  the  ladies  arrive.' " 

"  April  2. 

".  .  .  Much  has  been  going  on  at  Windsor  lately 
upon  our  ministerial  projects.  Canning  and  Wellington 
were  closeted  with  rrinney  one  day,  Peel  for  as  long 
the  next,  and  then — best  of  all  the  three — Cheerful 
Charlie  *  w^ent  down  yesterday,  his  object  being,  it  is 
said,  to  protest  on  behalf  of  himself  and  brother 
Tories  against  Canning  being  cock  of  the  walk.  .  .  ." 

"April  nth. 

"  The  town  vv^ill  have  it  to-day  that  all  is  settled — 
Canning  Minister,  and  that  he  has  received  the  King's 
commands  to  form  a  Govt,  on  the  same  principles  as  the 
last ;  .  .  .  yet  I  don't  believe  it,  because  Tankerville 
dined  yesterday  with  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  who 
told  him  that  all  was  still  at  sea,  and  that  he — Tanker- 
ville— knew  just  as  much  how  it  would  all  end  as  he — 
Wellington — did.  Now  w^e  all  know  that,  with  all  his 
faults,  Wellington  is  precisely  the  man  to  speak  the 
truth  upon  such  an  occasion  without  either  design  or 
humbug.  I  would  stake  m}'  life  it  was  as  he  said  at 
the  time  he  said  it.  ..." 

Mr.  Creevey's  confidence  in  the  Duke's  candour  on 
this  occasion  was  scarcely  justified.  On  the  very  day 
that  Wellington  made  the  above  statement   to   Lord 

"  The  3th  Duke  of  Rutland. 


iS27.]  A   CABINET   CRISIS.  453 

Tankerville,  hehad  received  Canning's  letter  informing 
him  that  he  had  been  commissioned  b}'  the  King  "  to 
lay  before  his  Majesty  ...  a  plan  of  arrangements  for 
the  reconstruction  of  the  Administration,"  and  adding, 
"  I  need  not  add  how  essentially  the  accomplishment 
must  depend  upon  your  Grace's  continuance  as  a 
member  of  the  Cabinet."  To  this  Wellington  replied 
on  the  same  day,  intimating  his  anxious  desire  "to 
serve  his  Majesty  as  I  have  done  hitherto  in  the 
Cabinet,  with  the  same  colleagues.  But  before  I  can 
give  an  answer  to  your  obliging  proposition,  I  should 
wish  to  know  who  the  person  is  whom  3'ou  intend  to 
propose  to  his  Majesty  as  the  head  of  the  Govern- 
ment." There  was  something  of  wilful  misunder- 
standing, if  indeed  it  was  misunderstanding,  in  the 
Duke's  failure  to  perceive  that  the  King  had  entrusted 
Canning  with  the  formation  of  a  Cabinet. 

Mr.  Crcevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Holkliam,  April  14th. 

"This  is  a  damned  bore,  you  must  know,  not 
having  the  London  letters  and  newspapers  till  four 
o'clock  in  tiie  afternoon,  it's  all  mighty  fine  for  King 
Tom  *  to  have  his  own  house  the  post-house,  which  it 
is ;  but  give  me  a  professional  one  in  preference  to  a 
squirearchy  postmaster.  ...  I  was  more  delighted 
with  my  approach  to  this  house  than  ever,  and  so  I 
am  now  with  everything  both  within  it  and  without  it 
— except  tlie  company,  who,  God  knows,  are  rum  enough, 
and  totally  unworthy  of  all  Lord  Chief  justice  Coke 
has  done  for  them  in  creating  the  estate,  and  the  Earl 
of  Leicester  in  building  and  furnishing  the  house. 
Our  worthy  King  Tom  is  decidedly  the  best ;  but — 
without  offence  be  it  said — he  by  no  means  comes  up 
to  his  ancestor  the  Chief  justice.  .  .  .  Digby  and  Lady 

*   Mr.  Coke  of  Holkhain. 


454  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVIII. 

Andover  *  are  both  speechless  lcrasc(i']  ;  Stanhope  and 
Mrs.  Stanhope  are  worthy,  honest,  absent,  lackadaisical 
bodies  that  don't  seem  to  know  where  they  are  or  who 
they  are  with ;  and  this  is  our  present  stock,  except  a 
young  British  Museum  artist,  who  is  classing  manu- 
scripts, and  a  silent  parson  without  a  name !  But  then 
—what  have  we  not  in  reserve?  Do  not  we  expect 
Lord  John  Russell,  the  Knight  of  Kerry,  Spring  Rice, 
and  various  other  great  and  publick  men?  We  do 
indeed !  tho'  during  the  different  times  I  have  been 
here,  I  have  known  many  expected  who  never  came. 
But  you'll  not  quote  me.  In  the  mean  time,  it's  all  the 
same  to  me  whether  the}'  come  or  not.  I  came  to  see 
the  place.  I  doat  upon  it.  ...  1  was  not  sufficiently 
struck  when  1  have  been  here  before  with  the  furniture 
of  the  walls  in  the  three  common  living  rooms,  which 
is  Genoa  velvet,  and  what  is  more,  it  has  been  up  ever 
since  the  house  was  built,  which  is  eighty  years  ago ; 
and  yet  it  is  as  fresh  as  a  four-year-old.  To  be  sure, 
the  said  Earl  of  Leicester  was  no  bad  hand  at  finishing 
his  work :  never  was  a  house  so  built  outside  and  in. 
The  gilded  roofs  of  all  the  rooms  and  the  doors  would 
of  themselves  nowadays  take  a  fortune  to  make ;  and 
his  pictures  are  perfect,  tho'  not  numerous." 

Canning's  appointment  as  premier  was  the  signal 
for  the  resignation  of  those  Ministers  who  had  hitherto 
resisted  the  Roman  Catholic  claims — Wellington, 
Eldon,  Bathurst,  Melville,  Westmorland,  Bexley,  and 
Peel.  Canning  immediately  opened  negociations  with 
the  Whig  leaders — Lansdowne,  &c.— for  a  coalition. 

Earl  of  Seffon  to  Mr.  Crcevey. 

"London,  April  13,  1827, 

"They  all  declare  their  motive  for  resigning  is 
strictly  personal — that  the  Catholics  have  nothing  to  do 
with  it ;  it  never  came  into  question.  The  D.  of  Wel- 
lington, who  has  also  given  up  the  Arm}',  says  nothing 

*  Lady  Andover,  widow  of  the  eldest  son  of  the  15th  Earl  of  Suffolk, 
married  Admiral  Sir  Henry  Digby,  K.C.E. 


i827.]  MISCHIEVOUS   TIMES.  455 

shall  induce  him  to  connect  himself  with  that  man. 
He  has  just  told  this  to  Ly.  Jerse}'',  and  has  shown  her 
letters — one  from  Canning  to  him,  announcing  that  he 
had  received  his  Majesty's  commands  to  form  a  Govern- 
ment. This  he  answered  to  the  King.  He  says 
Canning's  letter  was  most  impertinent.  ,  .  .  Peel  says 
he  could  not  serve  tinder  Canning,  nor  would  any  of 
the  others.  .  .  .  Lord  Londonderry  has  resigned  the 
Bedchamber  in  a  letter  to  the  King  saying  he  had 
prevented  the  Queen  being  received  at  Vienna,  and 
that  as  H.M.  had  given  his  confidence  to  a  man  who 
entertained  such  different  opinions  on  that  subject,  he 
could  no  longer  serve  him.  In  short,  traits  of  humour 
are  without  end.  Bathurst  did  not  know  of  the 
Chancellor's,  Wellington's  and  Peel's  resignation  till 
he  missed  them  at  the  Cabinet  dinner  at  Wynne's  on 
Wednesday.  He  went  home  and  wrote  a  very  formal 
letter  of  resignation  to  Canning.  ...  If  Opposition 
support.  Canning  may  stand,  and  they  certainl}'  ought 
to  keep  out  these  villains." 


Mrs.  Taylor  to  Mr.  Cre.evey. 

"Whitehall,  17th  April. 

"  IVlv  DEAR  Mr.  Creevev, 

"What  a  goose  you  were  to  leave  town  in 
such  delightful  mischievous  times !  Dear  Brougham 
arrived  the  night  before  last  upon  a  summons  from 
Lord  Lansdowne.  .  .  .  He  called  upon  Lord  Darlington 
on  his  way  up,  and  1  see  his  object  is  to  get  those  two 
to  take  office,  as  an  excuse  for  himself  He  is  out- 
rageous at  the  idea  of  Copley  *  being  Chancellor,  and 
told  me  he  was  sure  it  would  never  be.  .  .  .  As  3'ou 
may  believe,  he  is  in  a  very  disturbed  state,  and  up  to 
his  ears  in  some  intrigue  or  other." 

"21st. 

".  .  .  Brougham  was  here  last  night  in  a  state  of  in- 
sanity after  the  negociation  between  Ld.  Lansdowne 
and  Canning  was  broke  off,  which  it  was,  in  consequence 

*  Sir  John  Copley,  who,  on  becoming  Lord  Chancellor  on  Lord 
Eldon's  resignation  at  this  time,  was  created  Baron  Lyndhurst. 

2   1 


45^  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  Xyill. 

of  the  former  not  consenting  to  an  entire  Protestant 
Government  in  Ireland*  From  this  he  went  to  a 
meeting  he  and  Sir  M.  Wilson  got  up  at  Brooks's, 
consisting  of  Jack  the  Painter,t  the  Knight  of  Kerry, 
the  Calcrafts  and  a  few  more  shabby  ones,  anxious  for 
place  at  any  rate ;  and  there  it  was  agreed  to  send 
Ld.  Auckland  and  the  younger  Calcraft  to  Ld.  Lans- 
downe  to  remonstrate,  and  to  prevail  upon  him  to 
renew  the  negociation.  .  .  .  Brougham  told  me  he  had 
refused  being  Attorney-General,  but  I  don't  believe  it 
was  really  offered  to  him,  for  1  hear  the  higher  powers 
objected  to  him. 


Hemy  Brougham,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevcy. 

"April  2ist,  1827. 

"  My  dear  C, 

"  As  I  am  sure  by  instinct  that  you  are  with  the 
true  and  faithful  servants  of  the  Lord  in  this  time  of 
our  trial,  and  not  with  the  vain  and  foolish  Malignants, 
I  write  to  say  that  the  negociation  was  off  last  night, 
and  we  had  a  row  at  Brooks's  (which  I  own  I  created) 
and  the  negociation  is  on  again  to-day,  with  a  fair 
prospect  of  success.  These  difficulties  come  from 
some  of  our  friends  being  still  in  the  year  1780.  .  .  . 
Sefton's  letters  would  put  life  into  a  wheelbarrow,  or 
anything  but  a  superannuated  Whig.  My  principle  is 
— anything  to  lock  the  door  for  ever  on  Eldon  and  Co. 
I  have  the  easier  pushed  this  great  matter,  because  I 
can  have  no  sort  of  interest  in  its  success.  My 
crimes  (which  I  prize  as  my  glory)  of  1820  are  on 
my  head;t  and  by  common  consent  the  King  is  to  be 
gratified." 

*  I.e.  a  Lord  Lieutenant,  Chancellor,  and  Secretarj'  opposed  to 
Catholic  Emancipation. 

t  Mr.  Spring  Rice,  created  Lord  Monteagle  in  1839. 
X  His  defence  of  Queen  Caroline. 


1827.]  BROUGHAM    IN  THE  THICK  OF  IT.  457 


"April  27,  1827. 

"Dear  C, 

"  I  fear  you  are  a  rural  politician— r//r/s 
amaior — one  of  the  provincials  of  whom  Jonathan 
Raine  said  in  his  N,  Circuit  verses — 


'  Quid  memorem  quotquot,  rurali  more,  colonis 
Ruris  amatores  dant  sua  jura  suis  ? ' 

So  you  have  a  politick  of  your  own,  as  Maude  has  a 
law.  How  can  you,  being  of  [illegible]  mind,  possibly 
think  that  the  Ministry — or  any  Ministry — can  stand 
on  volunteer  and  candid  support?  My  only  principle 
is  : — *  Lock  the  door  on  Eldon  and  Co. ;'  and  this  can 
only  be  done  by  joining  C[anning]. 

"  Well,  even  my  not  being  in  office  is  making  the 
devil's  own  mischief  Where  am  I  to  sit  ?  [illegible^s 
place,  or  Pitt's  old  hill  fort  ?  or  where  ?  How  am  I  to 
communicate  with  Cfanning]  ?  Besides,  the  Tories 
don't  believe  me  zvith  C,  and  are  trying  to  trap  me  by 
motions.  Nice,  to  be  sure,  had  any  man  such  a 
singular,  not  to  say  absurd  power  over  a  Govt,  as  I 
shall  have.  Lord  L[ansdowne],  D.  of  Devonshire,  &c., 
all  take  place  protesting  against  my  exclusion,  and 
swearing  they  only  submit  to  it  while  I  do.  Scarlett 
A[ttorney]  G[eneral],  but  Eldon  went  off"  in  a  head- 
ache to  escape  swearing  him  in.  .  .  . 

"  H.  B." 


Edward  Ellice,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Crccvey. 

"  Brooks's  [no  date]. 

".  .  .  Be  assured  Bruffam  will  bolt!  He  is  very 
sore  at  Scarlett's  appointment,  with  all  his  profes- 
sions of  disinterestedness,  and  no  wonder  !  He  says 
support  of  an  '  hon.  and  learned  member  opposite  '  is 


458  ■  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVIII. 

not  quite  the  same  thing  as  that  of  'my  hon.  and 
learned  friend  near  me;'  and  that  his  exclusion  will 
shut  his  mouth.  This  is  all  as  I  expected.  We  shall 
see  strange  confusion  and  quarrelling  in  the  end. 
Lord  Gre}^  has  shut  his  door  upon  Taff.,  and  if  they 
don't  take  care,  will  lead  the  new  Govt. — with  or  with- 
out Ld.  Lansdowne — a  pretty  dance  in  the  Lords.  .  .  . 
I  envy  none  of  them  the  legacy  the  Tories  have  left 
their  successors.  They  have  drained  the  cup  of  good 
things  to  the  dregs,  and  left  many  a  bitter  draught 
for  those  that  follow  them.  .  .  .  The  fellow  can't  wait 
for  the  letters,  and  indeed  I  could  only  add  some  lies 
of  the  da3\ 

"  Yours, 

"E.  E." 


Michael  Angelo  Taylor,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Orevey. 

"  Denbies,  May  6th,  1827. 

"...  1  am  almost  sick  at  what  is  passing.  The 
scene  in  the  House  is  to  my  mind  so  strange  that  I 
know  not  where  I  am.  1  keep  my  old  place.  What  is 
to  be  concocted  for  the  general  good  I  cannot  conjec- 
ture .  .  .  Brooks's  rings  with  the  praises  of  Canning — 
how  well  he  does — how  ill  the  Sovereign  is,  and  how 
improperly  Canning  has  been  dealt  with.  Canning  has 
dissected  both  Whigs  and  Tories  ;  and  I  profess,  if  1 
was  to  swear  fealty,  I  should  be  more  inclined  to 
swear  it  to  him  than  to  Lansdowne  and  Co.  Darling- 
ton raves  about  I  the  new  Premier.  The  Catholic 
question  is  only  safe  by  being  postponed,  he  thinks. 
Duncannon  now  counts  noses  on  the  other  side,  and 
sits  on  the  Treasury  Bench.  I  can  say  for  myself  that 
not  much  of  decent  respect  has  been  shown  to  me.  I 
have  supported  the  Whigs  for  eight  and  thirty  years 
at  an  expense  of  above  ;^30,ooo.  My  house  and  table 
have  been  the  resort  of  the  party,  and  on  their  account, 
partl}^,  the  King  has  got  rid  of  me.  To  the  astonish- 
ment of  man}',  not  a  syllable  has  ever  been  mentioned 
to  me." 


1111::   riiiki)  M  \K(.)Ui:ss  uv  laxsi^owxe 


\To  face  p.  458. 


1827.]  COALITION.  4S9 

Lord  Althorp  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"Albany,  May  11,  1827. 

".  ,  .  It  is  impossible  for  mc  not  to  write  to  you 
and  say  how  much  gratified  I  am  at  finding  the  line 
which  1  have  taken  approved  of  by  all  those  with 
whom  I  first  began  my  political  life,  which  was  in 
1809,  on  the  Duke  of  York's  business.  '  It  is  impossible 
for  me  to  put  any  confidence  in  Canning,  but  I  must 
support  him  as  the  least  of  two  evils.  Lord  Lans- 
downe  and  those  who,  like  him,  take  office  or  identify 
themselves  with  the  administration,  appear  to  me  to 
have  more  courage  than  discretion  ;  and  I  think  they 
would  have  done  better  to  have  acted  with  more 
caution.  But  the  thing  being  done,  we  have  only  to 
choose  between  the  two  parties,  and  the  line  it  is  our 
duty  to  take  is  plain  enough  at  present.  ...  I  much 
fear  that  His  Majesty  will  be  indulged  in  every  sort  of 
extravagance  in  order  to  win  him  over." 

Earl  of  Scfton  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  London,  28th  May,  1827. 
"  You  are  indeed  a  benighted,  rural  politician,  and 
your  letter  is  truly  a  provincial  reverie.  I  do  sav  the 
junction  is  justified  b}'  the  exclusion  of  Eldon,  Wel- 
lington, Peel  and  Bathurst.  It  could  have  been 
brought  about  by  no  other  means,  and  I  consider  it  as 
an  immense  benefit  conferred  on  the  countr}'.  .  .  .  As 
to  the  '  baseness  of  the  junction,'  and  the  rest  of  your 
apple-blossom  twaddle,  I  really  thought  at  first,  Mr. 
Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Controul,  that  you  were 
alluding  to  the  blasted,  disgraceful  coalition  of  Fox 
and  the  pure,  highminded  Grey  with  old  Bogy.* 
There,  indeed,  was  a  sacrifice  of  every  principle  upon 
earth  for  place.  I  don't  stand  up  for  Canning,  but 
I  think  the  junction  with  him  is  a  chance  for  the 
country  against  nothing.  Don't  forget  that  Grey, 
whose  opposition  is  solely  personal,  once  preferred 
him  to  Whitbread.  He  had,  as  you  well  know,  the 
choice  between  them.  ...  1  don't  care  a  damn — nor 
do  you — for  the  Catholics  ;  but  I  say  their  chance  is  a 

*  Lord  Grcnville. 


460  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVIII. 

hundredfold  better  under  the  new  Cabinet  than  under 
the  old  ;  and  so  do  they.  .  .  .  Depend  upon  it  that 
horticultural  pursuits  damage  a  male's  understanding, 
I  am  delighted,  therefore,  that  you  are  once  more 
coming  into  the  civilised  world,  where  I  trust  you 
will,  with  proper  care,  come  to  your  senses." 


Mr.  Creevey  to  the  Earl  of  Sefton. 

"Rivenhall  Place,  May  31st,  1827. 
"  Vous  vous  troJHpcz,  mon  chcr,  when  you  say  Lord 
Grey  ever  voted  for  Canning  in  preference  to  Whit- 
bread.  At  the  period  to  which  you  refer,  he  was  the 
only  one  who  voted  for  Whitbread  against  Canning, 
and  he  did  so  under  strong  circumstances  as  affecting 
Whitbread.  You  are  aware  of  the  half  kind  of  hostility 
that  existed  between  Whitbread  and  Grey  from  the 
time  of  the  latter  taking  office  in  1806,  and  one  act  in 
particular  of  Whitbread's  made  Grey  furious.  When 
Prinney  became  Regent,  the  Whigs  and  Grenvilles 
thought  the  game  was  all  their  own  again,  and  in  cast- 
ing the  parts  for  the  new  administration,  Whitbread 
was  to  be  Secy,  of  State  for  the  Colonies ;  but,  before 
he  wd.  touch  it,  he  made  it  a  sine  qua  non  that  Ld. 
Grenville,  as  First  Lord,  should  not  be  Auditor  like- 
wise— a  proposition,  I  say,  that  made  Grey  furious,  as 
an  injustice  to  Grenville,  and  a  reflection  upon  their 
former  Government ;  but  as  nothing  could  shake  Whit- 
bread, the  proposition  was  laid  before  Grenville,  who, 
greatly  to  his  honor,  wrote  a  letter  in  which,  tho'  he 
arraigned  very  freely  what  he  thought  the  injustice  of 
the  demand,  still  he  thought  so  highly  of  Whitbread's 
services,  that  he  struck  rather  than  not  have  them. 
Well,  all  this,  as  you  know,  ended  in  smoke;  but 
shortly  after  (upon  Perceval's  death,  I  believe)  when 
the  game  was  again  in  view,  the  question  arose 
whether  Canning  or  Whitbread  was  to  be  adopted. 
Grey  voted  for  Whitbread,  in  spite  of  all  the  provo- 
cation he  had  given  him,  upon  the  express  ground  of 
having  confidence  in  his  character,  which  he  had  not 
in  Canning's.  You  are  right,  therefore,  when  you  say 
that  Grey  s  objection  to  Canning  is  personal,  tho'  not 
entirely   so.     If    such   personal   objection   was   well 


1827.]  CREEVEY'S    OBJECTIONS.  4^1 

founded  then,  as  I  think  it  was,  surely  it  is  much 
stronger  now,  after  Canning's  leaving  his  Govt,  in  the 
lurch  as  he  did  upon  the  Queen's  trial,  and  his  late 
lies  at  the  expense  of  his  colleagues  and  Castlereagh, 
in  setting  up  for  the  sole  deliverer  of  the  new  world. 
AH  these  tricks  are  of  the  same  school,  and  make  a 
personal  objection  to  him  which  I  have  never  known 
apply  to  any  public  man  before. 

"What  you  say  of  coalitions  generally,  is  true — 
they  are  all  bad,  and  all  popular  principles  are  sure  to 
be  sacrificed  in  such  a  mess.  When  Brougham  wrote 
and  asked  me  what  I  thought  of  this  concern,  I  replied 
that  I  had  an  instinctive  horror  of  the  very  name  of  a 
coalition ;  and  yet,  with  all  the  sins  of  the  last  one  in 
1806,  it  surely  is  not  to  be  compared  in  its  design  and 
formation  with  this  one.  Fox  and  Grenville  had  been 
acting  openly  together  in  opposition.  When  Pitt  got 
the  Govt,  in  1804,  he  could  not  induce  Grenville  to 
accept  office  and  leave  Fox.  When  Pitt  died,  and  old 
Nobbs*  sent  for  Grenville  to  make  the  Govt,  the 
latter  would  not  listen  to  any  prejudice  against  Fox, 
but  made  the; Crown  divide  the  Govt,  between  them. 
Now  surely  to  see  Whigs  thrusting  themselves  tail 
foremost  into  Canning's  pay  as  subalterns,  is,  at  least, 
a  very  low-lived  concern  as  compared  with  the  last 
coalition.  ...  1  say  both  upon  public  and  personal 
grounds,  I  never  would  identify  myself  with  Canning. 
.  .  .  I  should  like  no  better  fun  than  backing  the 
renegado  Canning  every  night  against  the  Tory  High- 
flyers, but  as  to  trusting  myself  in  the  same  boat  with 
him,  and,  above  all,  taking  his  money — you'll  excuse 


me 


!" 


Mrs.  Taylor  to  Mr.  Creevcy. 

"June  I,  1827. 
".  .  ,  Mr.  Canning's  weakness  was   prett}^  visible 
in  the  Penryn  case.f     Brougham  was   so  ver}'-  tipsy, 

*  George  III. 

t  Gross  bribery  and  corruption  had  been  proved  to  prevail  in  the 
little  Cornish  borough  of  Penryn,  which  returned  two  members.  Lord 
John  Russell's  motion  that  it  be  disfranchised  was  opposed  by  the 
Government,  and  defeated  by  124  votes  to  69. 


462  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVIII. 

that  for  some  time  after  he  got  up  to  speak  he  did  not 
know  what  he  said,  and  neither  Tierney,  Macdonald 
nor  Abercromby  were  in  the  House.  Little  Sir  T. 
T[yrwhitt]  has  just  come  in  to  tell  me  he  was  this 
moment  passed  in  the  street  by  Mr.  Lambton  in  a 
travelling  carriage  alone ;  so  that  he  is  come  up  to  see 
if  peerages  are  plenty  !  " 

Mr.  Crcevcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  London,  June  iith. 
".  .  .  Lambton  has  called  upon  Knighton  and  told 
him  to  tell  the  King  that  the  moment  he  heard  at 
Naples  of  the  shameful  way  in  which  he  [the  King] 
had  been  treated  by  his  servants,  he  had  travelled 
night  and  day  to  set've  him  ;  in  consequence  of  which, 
he  is  to  dine  and  sleep  one  day  this  week  at  the  Cottage 
after  Ascot.  This  comes  from  Ly.  C.  to  her  brother 
Denison.  .  .  .  Then  Brougham  is  so  anxious  about 
dear  Mrs.  Brougham  that  he  has  consulted  Knighton 
about  her  case,  who  is  so  good  as  to  see  her  daily. 
Was  there  ever?*  .  .  ." 

"June  15th. 
".  .  .  It  is  said  that  Lambton  owes  upwards  of 
;i^900,ooo,  and  has  little  or  no  profit  from  his  coal 
trade  to  help  him  out  of  the  mess.  .  .  .  The  Duke  of 
St.  Albans  is  to  be  married  to  Mother  Coutts  on  Satur- 
day. She  gives  him  ^30,000  as  an  outfit — the  rest  to 
depend  on  his  good  behaviour.  .  .  .  Chickens  are  15/- 
a  couple,  Mrs.  Taylor  tells  me ;  but  what  do  you  think 
of  cock's-combs  being  22/-  a  pound,  and  it  takes  a 
pound  and  a  half  to  make  a  dish  !  " 

"  Brooks's,  19th. 

".  .  .  In  my  walk  here  I  met  Althorp  .  .  .  and 
asked  him  how  things  were  going  on. — 'Very  bad,' 
says  he. — 'What  an  odd  thing,'  says  1, '  that  Robinson  t 
should  turn  out  so  wretched  in  the  Lords.' — 'Yes,'  says 

*  Sir  William  Knighton  being  the  King's  physician  and  confidential 
adviser  on  many  things  besides  his  health. 

t  Mr.  J.  Robinson,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  1823-27,  had  been 
jnade  Viscount  Goderich,  and  became  Colonial  and  War  Secretary. 


i827.]  WELLINGTON    AND    GREY.  4^3 

he,  *  and  what  is  worse,  Lansdowne  is  ver}''  little  better, 
so  that  Gre}^  acting  the  part  he  does,  cuts  him  to 
atoms.' — *  Do  you  suppose,'  sa3^s  I, '  it  was  the  question 
oi corn  that  made  the  great  Opposition  in  the  Lords?' 
— '  No,'  says  he,  '  it  was  the  question  of  Canning,  and 
only  that ;  for  you  know  no  one  can  have  any  con- 
fidence in  him.' " 

"June  20. 

".  ,  .  You  see  the  buttering  speech  Bruffam  has 
been  making  at  Liverpool  in  favor  of  Canning,  to  say 
nothing  of  his  lies  about  his  having  refused  a  silk 
gown  from  Eldon,  and  saying  that  the  latter  had 
always  behaved  so  well  to  him !  .  .  .  Sefton  said  to 
Mrs.  Taylor  yesterday  at  dinner  : — '  Well,  Mrs.  Taylor, 
what  is  your  opinion  of  Brougham  now?' — 'Why,' 
says  she,  '  exactly  what  yours  used  to  be,  Ld.  Sefton, 
the  worst  possible.' " 

"June  23. 

"...  I  sallied  forth  yesterday  for  a  walk  before 
dinner,  and  who  shd.  I  see  but  Wellington  coming  out 
of  Arbuthnot's  house  in  Parliament  Street — his  horses 
following  him.  So  thinks  I  to  myself — what  line  will 
he  take?  which  was  soon  decided  by  his  coming  up 
and  shaking  me  by  the  hand.  I  said — '  Curious  times 
these,  Duke!'  and  then,  by  way  of  putting  him  at  his 
ease  and  encouraging  him  to  talk,  I  added — '  I  am 
what  they  call  a  Malignant :  I  am  all  for  Ld.  Grey.  I 
have  this  moment  left  him,  telling  him  m}^  only  fear 
was  his  becoming  too  much  of  a  Tory.'  .  .  .  Turning 
me  round  by  main  force  and  putting  his  arm  thro' 
mine,  he  walked  me  off  with  him  to  the  House  of 
Lords. — 'There  is  no  chance,'  said  he,  'of  Ld.  Grey 
being  too  much  of  a  Tor}' ;  but  3^ou  are  quite  right, 
and  you  may  tell  him  from  me  that,  so  long  as  he 
keeps  his  present  position,  unconnected  with  either 
party,  he  has  a  power  in  the  country  that  no  other 
mdividual  ever  had  before  him.' 

'•'Then  he  fell  upon  Canning  without  stint  or  mercy 
— said  it  was  impossible  for  any  one  to  act  with  him, 
and  that  his  temper  was  quite  sure  to  blow  him  up. 
He  said  a  part  of  his  (Wellington's)  correspondence 


4^4  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVIII. 

had  been  withheld ;  that  when  he  found  that  his 
amendment  to  the  Corn  Bill,  if  carried,  wd.  be  fatal  to 
the  Bill,  he  wrote  to  Huskisson  saying  he  was  willing 
to  come  to  any  arrangement  so  as  to  prevent  that; 
but  Canning,  thinking  that  he  should  beat  him  in  the 
Lords,  would  not  let  Huskisson  listen  to  such  a  pro- 
posal. ...  In  short,  you  never  heard  a  fellow  belabour 
another  more  compleatly  con  amove  than  the  Beau  did 
Beelzebub — every  now  and  then  stopping  and  nearly 
pulling  the  button  off  my  coat  from  his  animation.  I 
am  only  provoked  that  I  omitted  asking  him  whether 
he  recollected  a  conversation  of  ours  one  day  after 
dinner  at  his  house  at  Cambray,  in  which  I  did  my 
best  in  describing  the  perfidious  character  of  Canning, 
but  he  would  not  touch  it.  ,  .  . 

"You  will  be  glad  to  hear  that  our  impertinent 
Whigs  have  been  disappointed  in  their  expectation  of 
Darlington  claiming  his  seat  from  Ld.  Howick.  Grey 
told  me  he  waited  upon  Darlington  and  tendered  his 
son's  resignation,  as  a  matter  perfectly  of  course  from 
the  line  he  (Grey)  had  taken,  as  well  as  his  son ;  but 
Ld.  Darlington  wd.  not  listen  to  the  thing,  and  said  he 
should  take  it  as  a  personal  favor  never  to  have  the 
subject  mentioned  again.  It  is  very  creditable  to  the 
Diihe  of  Cleveland  (that  would  be)  to  keep  up  his  con- 
nection with  a  man  that  is  such  an  infernal  stumbling- 
block  in  the  way  of  all  their  honors."* 

"  Low  Gosforth,  9th  August. 

"Well — I  suppose  Canning  is  dead  long  before 
this,t  and  so  goes  another  man  killed  by  publick  life. 
His  constitution,  it  is  tr.ue,  was  not  a  good  one,  but 
the  knock-down  blow  has  been  his  possession  of 
supreme  power,  his  means  of  getting  it  and  the  per- 
sonal abuse  it  brought  down  upon  his  head.  And 
now,  what  comes  next  ?  As  far  as  the  present  Cabinet 
is  concerned,  I  should  think  they  would  willingly 
consent  to  Lansdowne  succeeding  Canning;  but  what 
says  George  4th  to  this  ?     Again,  if  such  was  the  case, 

*  Lord  Darlington  had  to  wait  bi.x  years  for  his  dukedom.     Lord 
Howick  sat  for  one  of  Darlington's  seats  in  Winchelsea. 
t  About  twenty-four  hours. 


(.i:(  iR(.l'.   (    \\NIN(i 


\Tofacc p.  464. 


l837.]  DEATH    OF    CANNING.  4^5 

Brougham  Jimst  lead  the  House  of  Commons  as  a 
Cabinet  Minister,  and  what  would  the  King  and  the 
Church  and  the  Tories  say  to  that  ?  " 

In  perusing  the  correspondence  of  such  a  voluble 
gossip  as  Creevey,  one  pauses  occasionally  to  wonder 
whether  his  information  is  as  trustworthy  as  it  is 
varied  and  lively.  The  following  extract,  describing 
the  position  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington  in  regard  to 
the  Command-in-chief  of  the  Army,  and  his  corre- 
spondence with  the  King  on  the  subject,  would  not  be 
worth  printing  except  as  a  test  of  Creevey's  accuracy. 
Taken  as  such,  it  is  satisfactory  to  find  that  nothing 
could  be  closer  to  the  facts  of  the  case.  The  corre- 
spondence referred  to  is  printed  at  length  in  Welling- 
ton's Civil  Despatches,  iv.  37. 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"Barningham  Park  [Mr.  Mark  Milbank's],  Aug.  13. 

"...  The  Whigs,  I  think,  are  done.  Snip  Robinson,* 
you  evidently  see,  is  everything  with  Prinney.  Only 
think  of  Petty  t  buckling  to  under  him,  and  the  vener- 
able Tierney  too  and  old  goose-rumped  Carlisle.^  .  .  . 
I  am  happy  to  find  that  both  these  Kaby  and  Lowther 
tits  talk  very  freely  of  Lord  Lansdowne's  degradation 
in  having  Lord  Goodrich  [s/c]  put  over  him.  .  .  .  No 
tidings  of  the  Beau  yet!  but  he  must  have  his  iiiarc 
again,§  not  only  because  everybody's  language  is  that 
the  Army  is  going  to  the  devil  under  Palmerston,|| 
but  Mrs.   Taylor  has    told  me   of  a  correspondence 

*  Viscount  Godcrich,  who  became  Prime  Minister  on  Canning's 
death. 

t  Lord  Lansdowne. 

X  The  6th  Earl  of  Carhsle. 

§  A  saying  current  at  the  time,  expressive  of  a  man  regaining  his 
old  position. 

II  Viscount  Palmersion  was  Secretary-at-War. 


466  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVIII. 

between   the   King  and  the   Beau  upon  this   subject, 
which  Grey  told  her  the  Dulie  had  shown  him. 

"  It  seems  for  some  time  after  the  Duke  left  the 
Horse  Guards  he  called  perpetually  on  Sir  Herbert 
Taylor,  and  gave  him  his  opinion  and  advice  as  to 
what  was  going  on,  and  Taylor  availed  himself  of  one 
of  his  interviews  with  the  King  to  express  his  great 
obligations  to  the  Duke  for  his  kind  and  useful  counsel ; 
upon  which  the  King  wrote  the  Beau  a  letter  at  the 
beginning  or  end  of  which  he  called  him  his  'good 
friend'  ;*  thanked  him  for  all  his  kindness  to  Tajdor, 
and  urged  him  to  retract  his  resignation.  The  Beau 
considered  this  as  the  tricky  suggestion  of  Canning; 
but,  be  it  so  or  not,  Grey  represents  his  answer  as 
perfect — regretting  he  should  have  been  misunderstood 
— that  his  private  honor  would  never  permit  him  to 
retract,  but  his  wish  was  always  the  same,  to  be  of 
what  use  he  could  to  the  army.  Since  then,  the  King 
said  to  Lord  Mar3^borough  that  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton never  comes  to  see  him  now,  and  upon  the  other 
saying  he  was  sure  it  was  only  the  apprehension  of 
intruding  that  kept  his  brother  away  : — '  Oh  no,'  said 
the  King,  '  he  knows  very  well  1  am  always  delighted 
to  see  ////;/.'  Upon  this  being  told  the  Duke,  he  made 
that  last  visit  to  Windsor,  which  made  the  jaw  in 
the  paper.  So  I  can  have  no  doubt,  upon  all  these 
grounds,  that  his  mare  at  least  is  certain,  and  then  I 
think  the  noses  of  the  old  Click  will  be  poking  them- 
selves in  one  after  another,  till  not  a  single  Whig  nose 
is  left  in  the  concern." 

"  Barningham,  Aug.  19th. 

"  Yesterday  I  went  out  for  the  first  time  on  horse- 
back in  pursuit  of  prospects,  and  found  about  3  miles 
off  upon  the  high  road  a  perfect  one — a  single  high- 
arched  bridge  of  great  elevation,  springing  from  rocks 
considerably  above  the  level  of  the  Tees,  which  comes 
rumbling  down  with  great  majesty  over  a  rocky  bed 
with  trees  on  both  sides.  Standing  on  the  bridge,  the 
view  closes  on  one  side  with  an  abbey  ruin  of  Edward 

*  The  letter  begins  "  My  dear  Friend,"  and  ends  "  Ever  your 
sincere  Friend,  G.  R,''  [Wellington's  Civil  Despatches,  iv.  37J.  _ 


1827.]  GREY  AND   BROUGHAM.  4^7 

Srd's  time,  and  the  other  with  Rokeby,  celebrated,  you 
know,  by  Sir  Walter  Scott.  The  bridge  was  built 
by  Morritt,  the  present  owner  of  Rokeby.  ...  At 
dinner  our  company  was  the  said  Morritt  and  his  two 
nieces." 


Earl  Grey  to  Mr.  Crecvry. 

"  Lyneham,  21st  August. 

"...  I  had  a  very  curious  letter  from  Brougham 
the  other  day,  presuming  that  Canning's  death  would 
remove  the  obstacle  which  before  existed  to  my 
supporting  the  Government.  He  tells  me  that  he  had 
given  an  assurance  of  his  support  to  whoever  might 
be  the  leader  of  the  H.  of  C,  feeling  it  to  be  essential 
to  the  maintenance  of  a  ministry,  whose  principles,  as 
far  as  they  go,  he  approves ;  that  he  has  refused  any 
political  situation,  zc/iich  had  been  pressed  upon  him  b}' 
Canning ;  and,  being  excluded  by  the  personal  objec- 
tions of  the  King  from  any  other  situation  in  his  pro- 
fession, he  must  remain  as  a  supporter  of  the  Govt, 
in  his  hill-fort :  that  his  support  of  Govt,  is  quite 
disinterested,  having  received  nothing  but  slights, 
which  had  injured  him  in  his  profession ;  that  he 
had  asked  only  that  the  legal  promotions  shd.  be  sus- 
pended for  a  year  :  that  Cross  being  put  over  his  head, 
and  the  appointment  of  the  other  King's  Counsels, 
had  hurt  him  in  the  Circuit.  1  shortly  answered  him 
that  the  differences  of  the  last  session  were  the  more 
unfortunate  as  not  being  likely  soon  to  be  removed  ; 
that  I  wished  only  to  explain  that  my  objections  were 
not  merely  personal  to  Canning,  but  that  they  applied 
principally  to  the  manner  in  which  the  Government 
was  composed  ;  that  in  this  respect  they  were  rather 
increased  than  diminished  by  all  I  had  hitherto  learnt 
of  the  present  changes,  and  that  I  must  remain  in  my 
former  position,  unconnected  with  any  party,  and 
supporting  or  opposing  as  the  measures  ot  the  Govt, 
might  be  accordant  or  at  variance  witli  my  principles 
and  opinions." 


468  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVIII. 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Aug,  24. 

"  I  am  very  sorry  I  did  not  ask  Morritt  for  a  copy 
of  his  work  on  the  situation  of  ancient  Troy.  You 
must  know  that  he  has  a  brother,  one  of  the  hugest 
great  fat  men  you  ever  saw ;  and  as  the  elder  brother 
is  called  '  Troy '  Morritt,  the  other  goes  by  the  name 
of  'Avoirdupois'  Morritt.  Damned  fair  for  the  pro- 
vinces ! 

".  .  .  The  perfidy  of  the  Arch-fiend*  to  Lambton ! 
.  .  .  He  gave  Powlett  a  history  of  the  peerage  as  told 
by  Lambton  himself  to  Brougham.  Says  Lambton  : — 
*  I  directed  my  auditor  to  wait  upon  Ld.  Lansdowne, 
and  to  make  that  claim  which  I  thought  I  had  a  per- 
fect right  to,  of  being  made  a  peer.  But  Stephenson 
refused  to  execute  this  commission.' — '  When,'  said 
Brougham  [to  Powlett],  '  Lambton  opened  the  case 
and  his  claims  to  me,  I  thought  it  but  fair  to  give  him 
my  honest  opinion  that  he  had  none — that  he  had  only 
his  own  seat  in  Parliament — that  he  took  little  or  no 
part  in  debates,  and  that,  in  short,  his  claim  was  wholly 
untenable.'  Now  whether  all  or  any  or  what  part  of 
all  this  is  fiction,  I  know  not ;  but  was  there  ever  such 
a  perfidious  monster  as  this  Bruffam,  or  such  an 
insolent  jackanapes  as  this  Lambton.  The  latter,  I 
flatter  myself,  is  diddled,  tho'  he  did  return  from  Paris 
to  be  present,  zmth  myself,  at  Canning's  funeral.  I  was 
rather  ashamed  to  see  my  name  upon  such  an  occasion 
and  in  such  a  crew.f 

"  Well  now,  tho'  somewhat  late,  my  Portuguese 
Marshal — Lord  Beresford — came  to  dinner  on  Sunday, 
and  was  off  before  breakfast  yesterday  [Thursday]. 
I  can  safely  say  that  in  my  life  I  never  took  so  strong 
a  prejudice  against  a  man.  Such  a  low-looking  ruffian 
in  his  air,  with  damned  bad  manners,  or  rather  none 
at  all,  and  a  vulgarity  in  his  expressions  and  pro- 
nunciation that  made  me  at  once  believe  he  was  as 
ignorant,  stupid  and  illiterate  as  he  was  ill-looking. 
Yet  somehow  or  other  he  almost  wiped  away  all  these 

*  Brougham. 

t  Mr.  Creevey  was  not  at  the  funeral,  though  reported  to  be  so  in 
the  papers. 


i827.]  LOWTHER  CASTLE.  4^9 

notches  before  we  parted.  In  the  first  place,  it  is 
with  me  an  invaluable  propert^^  in  any  man  to  have 
him  call  a  spade  a  spade.  The  higher  he  is  in  station 
the  more  rare. and  the  more  entertaining  it  is.  Then 
I  def}'  any  human  being  to  find  out  that  he  is  either  a 
marshal  or  a  lord  ;  but  you  do  find  out  that  he  has 
been  in  every  part  of  the  world,  and  in  all  the  interest- 
ing scenes  of  it  for  the  last  five  and  thirty  years.  .  .  . 
The  history  of  these  two  Beresfords  is  really  interest- 
ing. They  are  natural  sons  of  old  Lord  Waterford,* 
and  were  sent  over  in  their  infancy  to  a  school  at 
Catterick  Bridge  under  the  names  of  John  Poo  [Poer?J 
(the  Admiral)  and  William  Carr  (the  Marshal),  and  the}' 
kept  these  names  till  they  were  about  12  years  old.  .  .  . 
They  are  still  in  ignorance  of  who  their  mother  was, 
or  whether  they  had  the  same ;  but  from  the  secrecy 
upon  this  head,  from  their  being  sent  from  Ireland, 
and,  above  all,  from  Lady  Waterford  having  seemed 
always  to  shew  more  affection  to  them  than  to  her 
own  children,  there  is  a  notion  they  were  hers  before 
her  marriage." 

"  Lowther  Castle,  Aug.  27th. 

"...  More  perfect  civility  and  politeness  was 
never  shown  by  man  to  man  than  by  the  Earl  [of 
Lonsdale]  to  myself  from  the  moment  I  entered  the 
house ;  and,  give  me  leave  to  say,  for  rather  a  feeble 
artist  and  one  who  was  dressed  in  a  star  and  garter 
and  a  blue  ribbon,  he  was  very  agreeable.  But  dear 
Lady  Lonsdale  is  the  girl  for  my  money,  being  either 
half-witted  or  half-cracked,  and  she  and  I  are  one.  .  .  . 
This  place  as  a  castle  is  a  palpable  failure  compared 
with  Raby  or  Brancepeth,  but  the  park  is  most  beauti- 
ful .  .  ." 

"  28th. 

*'.  .  .  Take  a  specimen  of  my  lord's  turn  for  story- 
telling. I  was  going  it  at  breakfast  just  now  with 
considerable  success  in  the  'Nanny  goat'f  line;  so 
my  lord  in  his  turn  said  : — '  You  have  heard  of  Mr. 

*  The  2nd  Earl  of  Tyrone  and  1st  Marquess  of  Waterford. 
t  Anecdote. 


470  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVIII. 

Fitzgerald,  who  was  called  the  Fighting  Fitzgerald, 
whom  I  used  to  see  a  good  deal  of  at  Lord  West- 
morland's. There  was  a  man  who  bet  a  wager  he 
would  insult  him  ;  so,  going  very  near  him  in  a  coffee- 
house, he  said — "  I  smell  an  Irishman  ! "  to  which  the 
other  replied— "You  shall  never  smell  another!"  and, 
taking  up  a  knife,  cut  off  his  nose.'" 


"  Hartlepool  [a  house  of  Lord  Darlington's],  Sept.  9th. 

".  .  .  Lansdowne  has  now  compleated  his  own 
destruction  by  letting  Prinney  and  Robinson  force 
Herries  *  down  his  throat.  .  .  .  What  a  treasure  on 
such  a  rainy  day  to  have  one's  Decline  and  Fall  with 
one.  I  really  think  it  is  a  great  business  for  such  a 
lazy  devil  as  myself  to  have  read  every  word  of  it.  1 
except  no  book  when  I  say  no  single  author  supplies 
one  with  such  useful  or  such  general  matter.  Damn 
his  ivrithig,  but  his  stnff'is  invaluable." 


"  Doncaster,  Sept.  iS. 

".  .  .  Soon  after  our  arrival  I  went  out,  and  the 
first  group  of  men  I  fell  into  was  Ld.  Jersey,  Ld. 
Wilton,  Bob  Grosvenor,  &c.,  &c.,  which  soon  ended 
in  a  tete-a-tete  between  Wilton  and  me,  in  which  I 
regretted  that  Edward  Stanley  had  taken  a  place  so 
inferior,  as  I  thought,  to  the  claims  and  position  of  his 
house.f  He  made  the  only  defence  that  could  be 
made — Edward's  love  of  business,  and  it  was  merely 
a  beginning.  Then  he  stated  of  the  Government 
generally  : — '  It  is  a  crazy  concern  altogether.  The 
King  is  in  ecstacies  at  having  carried  his  point  about 
Herries,  and  will  have  all  his  own  way  for  the  future. 
The  Whigs  have  moved  heaven  and  earth  to  get  Ld. 
Holland  into  the  Foreign  Office,  but  the  King  would 
not  hear  of  it.  .  .  .'" 

*  The  Right  Hon.  J.  C.  Herries,  who  became  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer. 

t  Afterwards  14th  Earl  of  Derby.  He  had  been  appointed  Under- 
Secretary  for  the  Colonies,  Huskisson  being  Colonial  and  War 
Secretary. 


183/.]  THE   GODERICH    MINISTRY.  47'I 

"  Doncaster,  Sept.  20. 

".  .  .  You  must  know  our  steward,  the  Duke  of 
Devonshire,  started  the  first  day  [of  the  races]  with 
his  coach  and  six  and  twelve  outriders,  and  old  Billy 
Htzwilliam  *  had  just  the  same  ;  but  the  next  day  old 
Billy  appeared  with  tiuo  coaches  and  six,  and  sixteen 
outriders,  and  has  kept  the  thing  up  ever  since.  .  .  ." 

"  Wentworth  House  [Earl  Fitzwilliam's],  23rd  Sept. 

".  .  .  Well,  have  you  read  our  Bruffam's  letters  to 
Lord  Grey  with  all  the  attention  thc}^  deserve?  and 
was  there  ever  such  a  barefaced  villain,  and  so  vain  a 
wretch  and  fool  too  ?  I  wish  3'ou  could  see  the  veins 
of  Lord  Grey's  forehead  swell  and  hear  his  snorting 
at  Brougham's  demand  for  justice  to  his  pure  dis- 
interested motives.  .  .  .  The  judicial  situation  he  re- 
fused was  Chief  Baron  of  the  Exchequer.  .  .  .  Lord 
Rosslyn  told  me  that  Brougham  in  a  letter  telling  him 
of  this  offer  said  : — '  It  was  made  me  by  Canning  just 
before  his  death,  and,  as  I  believe,  with  no  other  view 
than  that  of  getting  rid  of  me.'  ...  I  told  you  what 
Lord  Wilton  said  to  me  about  Holland.  Grey  says  all 
the  Cabinet  agreed  to  it  but  clicr  Bexley,  alias  Mouldy ; 
but  the  King  when  it  was  proposed  to  him  said  he 
would  have  no  Minister  who  had  insulted  all  the 
crowned  heads  of  Europe.  Lord  Cowper,  who  as 
well  as  Lady  Cowper  and  her  daughter  are  staying 
here,  tells  me  Alvanley  says  '  Goodrich  will  cry  him- 
self out  of  office.'  Cowper  and  Milton,  who  are  quite 
against  Grey  and  us  malignants  (including  Milton's 
father),  state  the  utter  impossibility  of  such  a  feeble 
artist  remaining  where  he  is.  .  .  .  Princess  Lieven 
says  I  must  be  writing  a  political  pamphlet,  and  Mrs. 
Taylor  is  pleased  to  tell  her  who  it  is  to,  and  that  1 
do  the  same  every  day.  ..." 

Deeper  and  deeper  grew  Creevey's  distrust  of  his 
ancient  ally  Brougham  ;  wider  and  ever  wider  yawned 
the  chasm  between  the  old  Whig  Guard,  represented 
for  the  nonce  by  Lord  Grey,  and  those  very  men  who, 

*  The  4th  Earl  Filzwilliam. 

2    K 


472  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVIII. 

under  Grey's  leadership,  were  ultimately  to  effect  the 
profound,  though  bloodless,  revolution  of  1832. 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Wentworth,  Sept.  24. 
".  .  .  Another  instance  of  our  Bruffam's  hypocrisy. 
Wm.  Powlett  (I  beg  pardon,  Lord  William  Powlett)  * 
said  to  me  : — '  Brougham  is  very  sore  at  your  not 
having  called  upon  him  during  your  stay  at  Lowther. 
My  father  shewed  me  a  letter  from  him  in  which  he 
said — "  I  cannot  but  feel  greatly  hurt  that,  after  the 
long  and  intimate  connection  between  Creevey  and  me, 
he  should  have  been  at  Lowther,  and  never  come  to 
see  me.'"  Now  was  there  ever  such  a  canting,  mis- 
chievous fellow?  He  has  done  all  he  could  to  injure 
me — has  washed  his  hands  of  me  in  every  way — he 
knows  I  could  not  come  to  him — he  knows  that,  if  1 
could  have  done  so,  he  was  not  at  home.  He  does  not 
care  one  damn  if  I  was  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea — most 
probably  would  rather  I  was  there  than  not — and  yet, 
for  some  base  purpose  of  his  own — gets  up  this  scene 
of  lying  sentiment ;  to  Darlington,  too,  of  all  men.  .  .  . 
At  dinner  I  heard  Princess  Lieven  say  to  Lord  Htz- 
william  : — *  Your  house,  my  lord,  or  your  palace,  I 
should  rather  say,  is  the  finest  1  have  seen  in  England. 
It  is  both  beautiful  and  magnificent.' — To  which  old 
Billy  replied — 'It  is  indeed.'  She  then  proceeded  : — ■ 
'  When  foreigners  have  applied  to  me  heretofore  for 
information  as  to  the  houses  best  worth  seeing  in 
England,  I  have  sent  them  to  Stowe  and  Blenheim  ; 
but  in  future  I  shall  tell  them  to  go  down  to  Went- 
worth.' The  last  compliment  was  received  by  old 
Billy  in  solemn  silence  !  not  an  atom  of  reply ! " 

"  Stapleton,  Sept.  28th. 

".  .  .  What  a  comfortable  house  this  is,  and  how 

capitally  '  dear  Eddard '  t  lives.  .  .  .  What  a  fool  this 

good-natured  Eddard  is  to  be  eat  and  drunk  out  of 

house  and  harbour,  and  to  be  treated  as  he  is.     The 

*  Second  son  of  Lord  Darlington,  who  was  about  to  be  raised  to 
the  dignity  of  a  Marquess  on  5th  October.  Lord  William  afterwards 
became  3rd  Duke  of  Cleveland. 

t  Hon.  Robert  Edward  Petre,  third  son  of  the  9th  Lord  Petre. 


i827.]  PARTY    POLITICS    IN    THE    NORTH.  473 

men  take  his  carriages  and  iiorses  to  carry  them  to 
their  shooting  ground,  and  leave  his  fat  mother  to 
waddle  on  foot,  tho'  siie  can  scarcely  get  ten  yards. 
Then  dinner  being  announced  always  for  seven,  the 
men  neither  night  have  been  home  before  8,  and  it 
has  been  |  to  9  that  Dow.  Julia*  and  her  ladies  have 
been  permitted  to  dine.  Then  these  impertinent  jades, 
the  Ladies  Ashley,  breakfast  upstairs,  never  shew  till 
dinner,  and  even  then  have  been  sent  to  and  waited 
for.  .  .  .  Dow.  Julia  makes  one  eternally  split  with  her 
voice  and  her  words  and  her  criticism  upon  every- 
body. She  is  always  at  it  and  always  right,  and  a 
good  honest  soul  as  ever  was.  .  .  ." 

"  Raby  Castle,  Oct.  4th. 
".  .  .  Lord  Londonderry  is  so  disliked  and  despised 
in  his  own  country  that  it  has  been  injurious  to  the 
Beau  to  be  shewn  off  by  him.t  .  .  .  The  Duke  is 
Commander-in-chief  and  identifying  himself  with  the 
Old  Tories,  and  the  Bishop  of  Durham  gave  him  a 
dinner  yesterday  that  has  made  the  Marquess  of  Cleve- 
land! shake  in  his  shoes.  He,  tho'  Lord-lieutenant, 
would  not  accept  the  Bishop's  invitation  to  meet  the 
Duke  of  Wellington,  and  we  had  quite  a  scene  be- 
tween him  and  Lord  William  two  days  ago  about  the 
latter  going.  However  he  was  quite  firm,  and  said 
nothing  should  prevent  him,  as  member  for  the  county, 
accepting  the  invitation.  All  this  on  Cleveland's  part 
was  dirty  toadying  of  the  King  and  Governt,  saying 
this  was  an  opposition  Tory  visit  of  Wellington's  to 
the  north.  .  .  .  The  Marchioness  would  have  liked 
the  fame  of  having  the  Beau  here,  and  he  had  promised 
Lady  Caroline  to  come  if  he  zvas  asked;  but  Niffy 
Naffy  did  not  dare." 

*  Juliana,  daughter  of  Henry  Howard  of  GIossop,  and  second  wife 
of  the  9th  Lord  Petre. 

t  The  Duke  of  WeUington  had  been  paying  a  visiti  to  Wynyard. 
Lord  Londonderry  (3rd  Marquess)  was  the  Duke's  Adjutant  General 
in  the  Peninsula.  Despite  the  Duke's  distrust  of  him,  he  continued 
to  address  him  in  correspondence  as  "  My  dear  Charles,"  until  their 
final  rupture  over  the  Corn  Laws  in  1846,  when  the  Duke's  letters 
begin  "  My  dear  Lord  Londonderry." 

%  Lord  Darlington's  patent  of  marquess  is  of  the  same  date  as  this 
letter. 


474  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVIII. 

"  Oct.  6th. 

".  .  .  It  should  be  a  rule  in  coming  to  this  house 
not  to  exceed  3  days,  when  the  party  is  purel}^  domestic, 
because    the   artificial   situation   of    the   Marchioness 
becomes   much   more   striking.      The   delusion   can't 
last :   it  becomes  low  comedy— low  life  above  stairs. 
The  scenes  are  magnificent,  the  dresses  superb,  but 
still  it  is  the  part  of  the  Marchioness  of  Cleveland  by 
Miss  Tidswell.  .  .  .  The  Marquis  himself,  too,  is  quite 
a  different  man  from  when   1  was  last  here.     He  is 
always  civil,  but  there  is  no  spring  in  him,  one  might 
almost    say   no   utterance.      rie   seems   absorbed    in 
thought  and  by  no  means  happy.     We  had,  to  be  sure, 
a   little   conversation   last   night,  when   he  was   kind 
enough  to  admit   Mrs.  Taylor  and  myself  to  an  in- 
spection of  a  new  pattern  for  his  livery  buttons !  .  .  . 
Good  God !    how  1  write.      1   mean  so  badly.      It  is 
now  after  dinner ;  I  am  sure  I  am  not  drunk,  but  the 
pens  are  the  very  devil.  .  .  .  Lord  Charles  Somerset 
complains  that  he  could  not  sleep  either  of  the  three 
nights    at   Wynyard,   never    having   slept    before   in 
cambrick  sheets,  and  that  the  Brussels  lace  with  which 
the  pillows  were  trimimed  tickled  his  face  so  he  had 
not  a  moment's  peace.  .  .  .  Grey  says  he  would  not 
dress  Lady  Londonderry  for  ^5000  a  year  :  her  hand- 
kerchiefs cost  50  guineas  the  dozen ;  the  furniture  of 
her  boudoir  cost  ;^3000.     Alnwick  Castle  is  the  place 
for   real    comfort !      You    ladies   are    handed   out   to 
breakfast,  as  well  as  at  dinner;   and,  that  entertain- 
ment over,  the  sexes  are  separated  as  at  a  cathedral ; 
so  much  so  that  Tankerville  was  arrested  by  the  coat- 
flap  for  attempting  to  invade  the  seraglio.     Cornwall, 
a  London  flash,  was  there  lately,  and  was  so  bored 
that,  having  consented  to  be  one  of  the  Duke's  male 
riding    party   (for    here    again    the    sexes   are    kept 
separate)  he  hid  himself;  but  in  an  unguarded  moment 
looked   out  of  the  window  to  enjoy  their  being  off 
without  him ;  when  the  Duke,  looking  back,  saw  him, 
and  they  returned  and  took  him." 

"  Howick,  Oct.  14th. 

".  .  .  Grey  read  me  a  letter  he  had  yesterday  from 
Lady  Jersey  from    Euston.  .  .  .  She   represents   her 


1827.]  THE   AFFAIR   OF   NAVARINO.  475 

host,  the  Duke  of  Grafton,  and  the  visitors,  Lord  John 
Russell,  &c.,  as  hanging  very  loose  indeed  by  poor 
Snip  *  and  the  Government.  Grey  says  nothing 
annoys  Brougham  so  much  as  not  being  able  to  make 
any  impression  upon  Lady  jersey.  .  .  .  She  is  as  firm 
as  a  rock  to  Grey  and  the  Beau.  Grey's  creed  is  that 
Brougham  must  bloiv  up:  that  he  is  in  so  many  people's 
power  with  his  lies  of  different  kinds,  that  one  fine 
day  they  will  be  out." 


Earl  Grey  to  Mr.  Crcevey. 

"  Howick,  Oct.  20th. 

"  I  had  a  letter  this  morning  from  good  old  Fitz- 
william.  Brougham  had  been  at  Wentworth  uninvited, 
and  evidently  for  the  purpose  either  of  making  recruits, 
or  of  holding  out  the  appearance  of  his  being  well  in 
that  quarter — probabl}'  both.  Fitzwilliam  smoked  him, 
and  took  care  that  he  should  not  go  away  deceived  as 
to  his  opinions,  which  are  exactly  what  you  would 
have  expected  from  a  good  honest  Whig — in  good 
times.  .  .  .  Circulars  are  sent  from  the  Foreign  Office 
to  all  people  connected  with  the  Government  for  sub- 
scriptions to  Canning's  monument.  I  wish  you  would 
write  an  inscription  for  it ! " 

The  struggle  maintained  by  the  Greeks  against  the 
Ottoman  power  came  to  a  crisis  in  the  autumn  of  this 
year.  On  6th  May  the  Greek  army  under  Karaiskaki 
was  cut  to  pieces  near  Athens ;  the  Acropolis  was 
bombarded  at  intervals  till  the  garrison  capitulated  on 
2nd  June,  and  the  utter  subjugation  of  Greece  by  the 
Turks  was  imminent,  when  Great  Britain,  France,  and 
Russia  interposed  to  preserve  her  independence  and 
presented  their  ultimatum  to  the  Porte,  which  suc- 
ceeded in  protracting  the  negociations  till  the  end  of 
September.  Meanwhile  the  Turkish  general  Ibrahim 
was  devastating  parts  of  Greece  with  circumstances 

*   l.ord  Cioderich.  the  Prime  Minister. 


47^  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XVIII. 

of  the  utmost  barbarity.  The  British  and  French 
admirals,  perceiving  in  this  a  breach  of  the  armistice 
which  the  Porte  had  conceded,  proceeded  to  destroy 
almost  the  whole  Turkish  fleet  in  the  Bay  of  Navarino ; 
an  act  which  was  vigorously  denounced  by  the  Oppo- 
sition in  the  British  Parliament. 


Mr.  Crccvey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Low  Gosforth,  Nov.  14th. 

".  .  .  Well !  so  the  magnanimous  Allies  have  really 
destroyed  the  Turkish  fleet,  and  a  more  rascally  act 
was  never  committed  by  the  great  nations,  nor  upon 
more  false  and  hypocritical  pretences.  But  the  con- 
sequences !  the  consequences !  Keep  your  eye  on 
them,  my  dear!  .  .  .  Altho'  Viscount  Dudley  and 
Ward  *  may  have  some  personal  objections  to  his 
head  being  placed  on  Temple  Bar  without  the  rest 
of  his  body,  that  is  the  proper  position  for  it,  or  that 
of  any  English  Ministers  who  by  this  act  have  opened 
the  East  and  West  to  French  and  Russian  ambition 
and  villainy.  ...  I  take  a  much  more  extensive  view 
of  this  Turkish  business  than  my  brother  statesman 
Earl  Grey  does.  We  long-sighted,  old  politicians,  my 
dear,  see  a  fixed  intention  on  the  part  of  Russia  to 
make  Constantinople  a  seat  of  her  power,  and  to 
re-establish  the  Greek  Church  upon  the  ruins  of 
Mahometanism — a  new  crusade,  in  short,  by  a  new 
and  enormous  power,  brought  into  the  field  by  our 
own  selves,  and  that  may  put  our  existence  at  stake  to 
drive  out  again." 

Time  brings  its  revenges,  and  we  have  lived  to  see 
the  Liberal  party  adopt  and  express  different  views 
to  these  about  "the  unspeakable  Turk."  Yet  it  is 
opinion,  and  not  the  method  of  the  Turk,  that  has 
changed. 

*  Foreisrn  Secretary. 


(     477     ) 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

1827-1828. 

The  fusion  of  a  section  of  the  Whigs  with  the  Can- 
ningite  Ministry  wrought  confusion  in  the  groups 
composing  both  the  original  parties.  The  Old  Tories, 
headed  by  Eldon,  Londonderry,  and  the  Duke  of  Rut- 
land, stood  disdainfully  aloof,  waiting  an  opportunit}^ 
for  eftective  flank  attack.  The  Duke  of  Wellington, 
hitherto  closely  identified  with  that  section  of  the 
Ministerialists,  had  resumed  his  old  post  at  the  Horse 
Guards,  after  laboriously  explaining  that  his  quarrel 
with  Canning  had  not  been  the  cause  of  his  resignation 
of  his  military  command,  and  that  his  resumption  of 
the  same  was  not  in  consequence  of  Canning's  death. 
But  there  was  no  whisper  of  his  re-entering  the 
Cabinet  under  Goderich,  whom  all  men  regarded  as 
a  minister /»owr  rire ;  everything  pointed  to  a  political 
rapprochement  (there  is  no  equivalent  English  term) 
between  Wellington  and  Gre^'.  Meanwhile,  if  the 
ranks  of  the  Tories  were  seamed  by  dissension,  not 
less  estranged  were  the  Whigs  among  themselves. 
The  "  Malignants,"  few  in  number,  held  apart  with 
Lord  Grey.  They  were  drawn  from  every  section  of 
the  old  Opposition — that  haughty  old  Whig,  Earl 
Fitzwilliam,  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  witii  Thomas 


478  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIX. 

Creevey,  representative  of  the  extinct  "  Mountain  "  of 
the  Regency  days.  Nothing  could  exceed  the  bitterness 
which  had  sprung  up  between  these  Malignants  and 
the  rest  of  their  part}^,  nor  the  violence  with  which 
among  themselves  they  denounced  their  ancient  col- 
leagues, whether  those  who  had  already  accepted 
office,  like  Lord  Lansdowne,  or  those  who  openly 
coveted  office,  like  Lord  Holland,  or  those  who  were 
suspected  of  secretly  intriguing  for  office,  like  Henry 
Brougham.  So  intense  was  party  feeling  that  it 
strained,  and  in  many  cases  severed,  friendships  of 
long  standing.  Creevey  never  had  a  heartier  ally 
than  Lord  Sefton ;  from  the  day,  five  and  twenty  years 
before,  that  he  first  entered  Parliament  as  an  obscure 
individual  known  to  nobody,  Sefton  had  befriended 
him,  co-operated  with  him  on  the  "Mountain,"  and 
caused  him  to  regard  Croxteth,  Stoke,  and  Arlington 
Street  as  always  open  to  him.  Sefton  had  given  his 
adhesion  to  the  Coalition  Cabinet ;  this  was  enough 
to  fire  Creevey's  indignation,  and  there  ensued  some 
months  of  estrangement  in  consequence.  That,  how- 
ever, was  soon  put  right  by  the  warm-hearted  Sefton, 
who  would  suffer  no  difference  of  opinion  on  public 
affairs  to  poison  the  springs  of  private  friendship.  He 
insisted  upon  Creevey  returning  to  Croxteth,  and 
crushed  out  all  suspicion  by  his  irresistible  good 
humour. 

It  was  very  different  Vi^ith  Brougham.  Closely  as 
Creevey  had  been  associated  with  him  in  the  past, 
and  profoundly  as  he  admired  his  talents,  it  is  clear 
that  Brougham  never  succeeded  in  winning  his  con- 
fidence. He  exhausts  his  vocabulary  of  vituperation 
—a  prett}'  extensive  one — in  denouncing  him  at  this 
crisis.       -■•"' 


a827-28.]  RETURN    TO    CROXTETH.  479 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"Croxteth,  Wed.,  Nov.  21,  1827. 

"My  dearest  Bessy, 

"  Well,  here  you  see  me  after  all,  and  every- 
thing as  right  as  ever  it  can  be.  I  arrived  here  in  a 
chay  from  Ormskirk  yesterday  between  one  and  two, 
and  as  I  pass'd  the  front  of  the  house,  was  upon  the 
lookout  to  see  if  there  were  any  watchers  at  the 
windows.  Lady  Maria  was  at  her  bedroom  one,  and 
we  had  mutual  salutations.  Where  my  Lord  had  seen 
me  from  I  don't  know,  but  he  was  below  at  the  hall 
door  to  receive  me,  and  in  the  middle  of  very  cordial 
handshaking  said : — '  You  old  rogue  !  I  did  not  feel 
sure  of  your  coming  till  I  saw  you.'  I  was  then  taken 
up  to  see  the  ladies,  and  nothing  could  be  warmer 
than  my  reception  was  by  each,  and  Lady  Louisa  said 
more  than  once  or  twice  during  the  day — '  You  don't 
know  how  happy  you  have  made  us  all  by  coming.' 
So  it's  all  mighty  well. 

"As  we  were  sitting  cozing  about  the  fire,  Sefton 
said  : — '  Well,  Brougham  is  very  angry  with  you  for 
not  coming  to  see  him  at  Brougham.' — '  O,'  said  I,  'he 
is  a  neat  artist.  The  affectionate,  tender-hearted 
creature  wrote  a  blubbering  letter  to  Lord  Darlington, 
saying  how  dcepl\'  hurt  he  was  that  such  an  old  and 
attached  friend  as  1  was  should  have  been  so  near  him 
and  never  come  to  see  him  ;  but,'  I  added,  '  he  never 
mentioned  that  he  was  not  at  home  if  I  had  done 
so.'  ...  A  little  after,  one  of  the  young  ladies  said — 
'We  have  seen  a  good  deal  of  Mr.  Brougham  lately  ; 
he  went  to  the  play  with  us  3  or  4  times,  and  you 
never  saw  such  a  figure  as  he  was.  He  wears  a  black 
stock  or  collar,  and  it  is  so  wide  that  you  see  a  dirty 
coloured  handkerchief  under,  tied  tight  round  his  neck. 
You  never  saw  such  an  object,  or  anything  half  so 
dirty.'  This  is  all  that  has  passed  hith'erto  respecting 
the  Arch  Fiend.  .  .  . 

"  1  said  to  Sefton  just  now  out  a-shooting — who  is 
Montron? — '  Wh}-,'  said  he,  'he  is  a  roue  who  has  no 
visible  living  and  has  one  of  the  best  houses  going  in 
Paris.  He  was  employed  very  much  by  Talleyrand 
in  his  jobs  and  by  Buonaparte  likewise,  and  of  course 


48o  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIX. 

he  is  in  very  bad  odour  with  the  present  Government  of 
France ;  but  he  is  a  clever  man  and  most  entertaining.* 
I  need  not  add  he  must  be  an  infernal  scoundrel,  and 
to  my  mind  he  is  the  worst  mannered  man  I  ever  saw. 
._  .  .^  We  are  expecting  hourly  a  proper  match  for  him 

in  villainy,  Henry  de  R .  ...  He  [Montron]  is  known 

to  and  has  lived  with  all  the  world,  but  his  polar  star 
has  been,  and  continues  to  be,  Talleyrand.  He  married 
a  Duchesse  de  Fleury,  who  was  divorced  from  her 
husband  on  purpose ;  but  who  afterwards  left  him  to 
live  with  a  painter.  One  of  his  most  conspicuous 
stations  was  in  the  Court  of  the  Princess  Borghese, 
where  he  lived  openly  with  her  principal  lad}^  I 
never  heard  anything  equal  to  the  depravity  of 
Madame  la  Princesse,  according  to  the  stories  Montron 
tells  Sefton,  and  Montron  stated  himself  as  having 
been  the  minister  to  her  pleasures  in  selecting  lovers 
for  her.  It  was  for  such  like  offices  that  the  moralist 
Buonaparte  whipped  Master  Montron  into  prison  one 
fine  day,  and  kept  him  there,  saying  he  zvould  put  an 
end  to  the  debauchery  of  his  sister's  establishment. 
So  much  for  my  new  friend  !  Is  he  not  a  neat  one  ?  .  .  . 
I  really  think  there  is  nothing  going  on  by  letter  now 
between  Sefton  and  Brougham,  which  is  odd  enough, 
after  all  that  has  passed  ;  but  I  feel  certain  Sefton 
would  not  conceal  anything  that  was  going  on,  and  if 
he  ever  mentions  Brougham,  it  is  only  to  say  how 
impossible  it  is  for  me  to  conceive  the  state  of  his 
filth  in  all  ways.  .  .  .  Poor  Sefton  !  he  was  quite  au 
desespoir  the  night  before  last ;  there  had  been  so  few 
pheasants  that  day  at  Kirby  Ruff,  his  best  cover.  He 
was  really  speechless,  except  when  he  said  it  was  the 
last  time  he  ever  should  be  there.  In  short,  he  might 
have  lost  half  his  estate  at  least.  To  think  of  the  most 
successful  man  in  life,  and  with  the  outside  of  every- 
thing the  world  can  give,  and  he  can't  exist  without 
excitement  for  every  moment  of  the  day ;  whilst  a 
pauper  like  myself  can  live  upon  idleness  and  jokes, 
without  a  blank  day  to  annoy  me.  .  .  ." 

"  Croxteth,  Dec.  6th,  1827. 

"...   I    accompanied    the   shooters    yesterday   to 
their  ground,  about  7  miles  off.     The  day  was  splendid 


J 827-28.]  RUMOURS   OF   WAR.  4S1 

— the  sport  brilliant — Sefton,  his  3  sons,  Berkeley 
Craven  and  Mr.  McKenzie  killing  141  pheasants,  above 
100  hares,  &c.,  &c.  On  coming  home  the  night  was 
so  dark  that  my  lord  declared  he  could  not  see  the 
road ;  and  so  it  turned  out,  for  he  overturned  us.  .  .  . 
We  were  not  a  mile  from  home,  so  we  left  the  carriage 
and  groped  our  way  on  foot.  .  .  ." 


Eai'l  Grey  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Howick,  Dec.  13,  1827. 

"  My  dear  Creevey, 

".  .  .  Sefton's  conduct  can  only  be  explained 
on  the  supposition  that  he  feels  himself  bound  not  to 
abandon,  in  their  difficulties,  an  administration  which 
he  originally  promised  to  support ;  but  I  do  not  think 
this  feeling  can  prevail  long  against  his  own  opinion 
and  the  increasing  opinion  of  the  publick.  At  present, 
according  to  all  appearances,  they  will  not  be  able  to 
extricate  themselves  from  this  Turkish  scrape.  I  have 
a  letter  to-day  from  Paris  saying  that  the  Russian 
army  has  crossed  the  Pruth,  with  the  intention  of 
permanently  occupying  the  Principalities  of  Moldavia 
and  Wallachia.  This,  in  their  diplomatick  jargon, 
they  say  is  not  to  be  considered — any  more  than 
Navarin — as  a  measure  of  war,  but  as  a  inoycn  d'exccuter 
Ir  traitc  dc  niediation.  This  is  not  very  unlike  the  case 
of  a  man  who  should  knock  another  down,  and  then 
say — '  I  did  not  do  it  with  an  intention  of  hurting  you, 
but  only  from  the  most  friendly  desire  to  keep  you 
quiet'  Whatever  the  explanation  may  be  worth,  of  the 
fact  I  have  no  doubt,  and  as  little  that  the  Russians  will 
not  again  abandon  the  possession  of  these  countries. 
These  \_i I  legible'],  notwithstanding  the  gloss  which  it  is 
endeavoured  to  put  upon  the  measure,  as  well  as  a 
general  apprehension  of  the  increasing  power  of 
Russia,  which  has  been  quickened  by  her  late  successes 
in  Persia,  have  already  produced  speculations  on  the 
necessity  of  a  combination  to  resist  her  projects,  and 
there  seems  no  great  improbability  in  supposing  that 
the  cannon  fired  at  Navarin  may  prove  the  signal  of 
another  general  war  in  Europe.  The  best  chances 
against  it  are  to  be  found  in  the  general  poverty  of 


482  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.      [Ch.  XIX. 

all  the  Great  Powers.  Austria  can  hardly  find  the 
means  of  moving  an  army ;  we  are  no  longer  in  a 
condition  to  give  subsidies ;  and  even  Russia,  in  the 
countries  in  which  her  armies  will  have  to  act,  could 
not  find  immediately  the  means  of  defraying  the  cost 
of  their  maintenance  in  active  service,  and  some 
compromise  may  thus  be  produced  at  the  expense  of 
the  poor  Turks  who  will  be  plundered  both  by  friends 
and  foes,  and  whose  helpless  imbecillity  deprives  them 
of  all  hopes  of  a  successful  resistance.  This  is  the  only 
way  which  I  can  at  present  foresee  for  the  Ministers 
to  escape  from  the  difficulty  which  Mr.  Canning's 
much-lauded  policy  has  brought  upon  them,  but  which 
would  require  more  energy,  more  skill,  more  union 
and  more  wisdom  than  I  think  likely  to  be  found  in 
our  present  Councils. 

"  As  to  Brougham — I  believe  him  to  be  mad.  Our 
correspondence  has  ceased,  but  I  have  lately  seen, 
under  his  own  hand,  things  that  would  surprise  even 
you  .  .  .  that  Canning  had  no  more  to  do  with  the 
treaty  of  the  6th  of  July  than  you  or  I,  and  that  it  was 
entirely  the  Duke  of  Wellington's  .  .  .  that  there  is  a 
complaint  of  the  King's  unconstitutional  interference 
with  the  patronage  of  the  Ministers.  If  this  should 
be  proved  to  be  so  (the  //  is  good)  nobody  wd.  be 
more  for  resisting  it  than  himself;  and,  if  requisite^  he 
should  be  glad  to  see  a  union  of  the  respectable  men 
of  all  parties,  headed  by  Lord  Grey,  for  that  purpose. 
.  .  .  All  this  I  have  seen  actually  in  black  and  white 
—  does  it  furnish  a  case  to  justify  my  suspicion  of 
madness  ? 

"At  the  end  comes  out  the  true  solution  of  the 
riddle.  He  is  full  of  indignation  at  Phillimore's  being 
put  over  Lushington's  head,  because  the  latter  was 
counsel  for  the  Queen.  No  thought  of  himself,  of 
course !  nor  any  reference  to  his  own  situation, 
proving  indisputably  his  claim  to  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  disinterestedness,  which  you  may  remember 
in  his  letter  to  me.  .  .  .  The  Duchess  of  Northumber- 
land told  Mrs.  Grey  the  other  day  that  about  Navarin 
the  King  had  said  that  the  actor  deserved  a  ribband, 
but  the  act  a  halter.  A  pleasant  distinction  for 
his  My.'s  Ministers!  Lansdowne,  however,  I  hear 
is  in  favour  ever  since  he  submitted  about  Herries, 


1S27-28.]  LORD    GREY'S    SPECULATIONS.  483 

but  that  the    King  spoke   neither  to   Tierney  nor  to 
Mcintosh  at  the  Council  when  the  latter  was  sworn  in. 

"  Ever  yours, 

"Grey." 

"  Howick,  15th  Dec. 

".  .  ,  With  the  feelings  of  sincere  regard  and  great 
liking  that  I  have  for  Sefton,  nothing  can  be  more 
gratifying  to  me  than  the  expression  of  correspond- 
ing feelings  on  his  part :  nor  could  anything  give  me 
more  sincere  pleasure  than  a  visit  from  him  here, 
more  especially  if  you  could  meet  him.  Is  there  any 
chance  of  your  coming?  .  .  .  You  will  see  in  the 
papers  the  reports  of  Lord  Goodrich's  resignation. 
.  .  .  Will  the  King  put  the  thing  fairly  into  the  hands 
of  Lansdowne,  allowing  him  to  bring  in  some  of  the 
old  Whigs  ?  or  will  he  take  it  as  the  head  of  a  Tory 
administration  ?  Or  will  Huskisson  be  the  man,  with 
all  the  load  of  unpopularity  w^hich  weighs  upon  him? 
or  will  the  whole  concern  break  up,  and  Peel  and  the 
Beau  be  called  upon  to  form  a  new  Government? 
.  .  .  Holland  is  the  only  person  of  whom  I  have  heard 
that  goes  the  whole  length  of  defending  the  business 
of  Navarin  in  all  its  parts,  and  that  with  a  degree  of 
violence  that  really  surprises  me.  1  can  only  con- 
sider him,  therefore,  as  prepared  to  take  an3^thing  or 
do  anything  to  support  the  Government  as  it  is.  .  .  . 
1  had  heard  of  Dudley's  love,  and  of  the  Countess 
St.  Antonio's  joke  that  he  was  become  'a  Ward  in 
Chancery.'*  If  the  lady  takes  as  much  out  of  him 
as  the  Court  usually  does  out  of  its  suitors,  I  should 
think  there  would  be  little  left  of  him  at  the  meeting 
of  Parliament." 

Mr.  Creevcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Li\crpool,  Dec.  14,  1S27. 

"  I  left  Croxteth  yesterday.  .  .  .  Sefton  first  gave 
me  your  letter,  but  his  main  object  [in  coming  to  my 
room]  was  to  show  me  in  the  most  perfect  confidence  a 
letter  he  received  from  Brougham  this  morning,  en- 
closing one  the  latter  had.  received  from  Lambton  at 

*  The  Earl  of  Dudley's  family  name  being  Ward. 


484  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.       [Ch.  XIX. 

Paris,  and  as  Sefton  said  when  I  had  seen  both  letters, 
it  would  be  for  me  to  decide  which  was  the  greatest 
madman.  The  subject  was  Lambton's  peerage,  which 
he  (Lambton)  contends  should  not  be  a  simple  barony, 
very  properly  observing  that  it  is  no  promotion  for 
the  first  commoner  of  England  to  be  made  the  last 
baron  !  But,  in  short,  without  seeing  his  letter  with 
one's  own  eyes,  its  contents  would  be  perfectly  in- 
credible, and  the  result  is  his  calling  upon  Brougham 
by  all  those  ties  of  early  disinterested  friendship, 
which  have  bound  them  to  each  other  for  life,  not  to 
let  him  be  less  than  an  earl.  .  .  .  Brougham  states 
in  reply,  or  says  he  does  so,  that  our  friends  in  power 
are  so  jealous  of  any  approach  to  them,  that  it  is  quite 
impossible  to  assist  him ;  and  then,  in  his  comment 
upon  Lambton's  letter,  loads  him  with  every  species 
of  ridicule  for  his  pretensions ;  till  at  length  he 
gravely  enters  the  field  himself  as  a  man  of  family 
at  least  two  centuries  older  than  that  of  Lambton, 
and  as  having  the  2nd  barony  of  England  in  his 
(Brougham's)  own  blood.  Now  really !  was  there 
ever?  .  .  .  Punch*  writes  there  is  not  an  individual 
in  the  city  who  does  not  consider  our  attack  upon  the 
Turkish  fleet  [at  Navarino]  as  the  greatest  outrage 
ever  committed  by  any  Government  or  country,  and 
above  all — by  ours.  In  speaking  of  Lord  Goodrich 
he  says  he  is  considered  by  all  as  a  mere  nidlity^ 
and  by  no  one  more  so  than  the  King,  and  does  what- 
ever he  likes  and  cares  for  no  one.  Pretty  well  this 
from  Mr.  Clerk  of  the  Council,  is  it  not  ? 

"  Before  these  letters  came  Sefton  had  said  to  me  : 
— '  By  God !  the  Government  can  never  stand ;  this 
Navarino  business  must  destroy  them.'  .  .  .  Only 
think  of  there  not  being  a  syllable  of  politicks  in 
Brougham's  letter  to  him  yesterday !  I  saw  it  all. 
My  own  belief  is  that  Brougham  is  not  the  person 
to  whom  Sefton  has  bound  himself,  if  in  some  un- 
guarded moment  he  has  done  so  ;  but  I  suspect  it  is 
Petty.  He  always  speaks  of  Brougham  as  if  he 
loathed  him.  My  dispatch  to  Grey  contains  all  the 
matter  just  stated,  except  about  the  Brougham  and 
Lambton  correspondence.  .  .  ." 

*  Charles  Greville. 


1S27-28.]  SEFTON   AND    BROUGHAM.  485 

"  Croxteth,  Dec.  16. 

"Well,  the  Pet*  was  charmed  that  the  rain  had 
not  stopt  me,  and  so  were  the  ladies,  and  all  mightily 
pleased  at  breakfast  with  my  description  of  Miss 
Creevey's  drum  t  and  supper.  I  did  the  company  by 
helping  them  to  stuffing  out  of  the  hare,  to  make  up 
for  the  little  I  could  get  from  the  hare  itself  Then 
the  day  became  quite  fine  and  all  was  to  be  ready  for 
shooting  in  half  an  hour.  In  a  turn  or  two  I  had 
with  Sefton  on  the  terrace  he  said  : — '  Well,  I  have 
written  to  Brougham  by  this  post  and  have  said  to 
him — "  I  observe  you  never  mention  any  politicks  in 
your  letter  of  yesterday ;  from  which  1  conclude,  of 
course,  you  are  ashamed  to  advert  to  our  late  nefari- 
ous attack  upon  the  Turks.  For  myself  1  can  fairly 
say  I  have  gone  as  far  as  any  man  in  my  endeavours 
to  prevent  the  return  of  the  Tories  to  power ;  but  if 
I  am  expected  to  support  the  infernal  outrage  at 
Navarino,  it  is  too  high  a  price  to  pay  for  accomplish- 
ing my  object,  and  1  think  it  right  to  declare  1  will 
not  do  it.  And  now,  as  you  have  hitherto  given  me 
an  explicit  account  of  the  part  you  meant  to  take  when 
the  Government  was  about  to  submit  my  measure  to 
Parliament,  I  beg  3^ou  will  be  as  frank  with  me  upon 
this  occasion  as  1  have  been  with  you." '  .  .  .  Sefton 
is  to  send  me  his  answer,  which  one  should  think 
must  be  a  dokiment  of  some  interest. 

"Well  but — to  wind  up  my  intercourse  with  the 
Pet :  when  the  carriages  were  ready  for  the  shooters 
in  the  stable  yard,  where  they  always  embark,  I  went 
to  be  present  on  the  occasion,  and  when  Sefton  came, 
who  was  the  last,  he  said  : — '  Creevey,  I  want  to 
speak  to  you; 'and  taking  me  into  the  Riding  House 
he  said: — '  I  can't  let  you  go  without  telling  you  that 
McKenzie  has  proposed  to  Maria.  It  has  happened 
just  now.'  I  said  I  had  seen  quite  enough  to  be  sure 
it  would  come  to  that  and  added: — 'He  is  a  man  of 
fortune,  is  he  not?' — '1  fancy  so,'  said  Sefton,  'but  I 
know  nothing   about  it.     He  seems  a  damned   good 

*  Lord  Sefton. 

t  Mr.  Creevey  had  been  the  night  before  to  a  party  at  his  sister's 
house  in  Liverpool,  and  driven  out  to  Croxteth  to  breakfast. 


486  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.       [Ch.  XIX. 

kind  of  fellow  and  a  particular  friend  of  \_iUcgiblc]' 
This  was  all,  but  it  was  quite  enough  to  show  it 
would  do  *  ..." 

During  the  Cabinet  crisis  in  January,  1828,  following 
on  Lord  Goderich's  resignation,  Creevey  was  staying 
with  his  step-daughters  in  Essex,  but  was  kept 
closely  informed  by  Lord  Sefton  of  every  shifting 
phase  of  gossip.  The  letters  were  written  daily, 
sometimes  twice  or  thrice  a  day,  but  the  interest  of 
them  has  for  the  most  part  evaporated.  The  question 
of  greatest  moment  to  the  Whigs  was  whether  Hus- 
kisson  would  join  the  Duke  of  Wellington's  Cabinet. 

Earl  of  Sefton  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"Brooks's,  1 2th  Jany.,  182S. 

".  .  .  Sir  Chas.  Stuart  is  talked  of  for  Foreign 
Secretary.  Petty  f  ma}^  now  retire  and  enjoy  his 
charades  at  Bowood  in  quiet.  He  is  admitted  by 
common  consent  to  be  the  damnedest  idiot  that  ever 
lived,  not  even  excepting  the  domestic  Goderich." 

Earl  Grey  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"Berkeley  Sq.,  Jany.  25,  1828. 

"...  I  have  not  time,  nor,  indeed,  do  I  know 
enough,  to  say  much  of  the  present  posture  of  affairs. 
To  me  it  seems  that  the  Beau,  as  you  call  him,  is 
placing  himself  in  a  situation  of  dreadful  responsibility 
and  danger.  His  taking  the  office  of  Minister,  after 
all  that  passed  on  that  subject  last  year,  to  say  nothing 
of  other  objections,  would,  in  my  opinion,  be  a  most 
fatal  mistake,  and  I  still  hope  there  may  be  time,  and 
that  he  may  find  friends  to  advise  him  to  avoid  it. 
But  there  is  another  danger  which  presses  still  more 
strongly    on    my   mind.     Huskisson's    friends    boast 

*  The  marriage  never  took  place.     Lady   Maria  Molyneux  died 
unmarried  in  1872. 
f  Lord  Lansdowne. 


1827-2S.]  WHAT    IS    BROUGHAM    AFTER?  48/ 

everywhere  that  Corn  Laws,  Free  Trade,  Portugal, 
Navarino — in  short  everything — have  been  conceded 
to  him  as  the  price  of  his  accession  to  the  Government. 
The  Duke,  I  know,  tells  a  different  story ;  but  this 
proves  that  these  matters  are  not  distinctly  understood 
and  settled  as  they  ought  to  be  for  the  security  of  the 
new  Government.  The  consequence  is  that  it  is  left 
in  the  power  of  that  rogue  Huskisson  to  choose  his 
own  time  and  ground  for  a  quarrel,  if  he  shd.  find  it 
his  interest  to  break  up  the  Administration. 

"No  communication  or  proposition  of  any  kind  has 
been  made  to  me.  I  hear  our  old  friends  are  eager 
for  red-hot  opposition  ;  but  I  certainly  shall  remain  in 
my  old  position,  and  act  as  I  may  find  right,  without 
any  consideration  of  either  party.  .  .  . 

"  Ever  3-ours, 

"Grey." 

Brougham's  position  at  this  time  was  a  puzzle 
alike  to  his  political  friends  and  foes.  In  the  previous 
August  he  had  written  to  Lord  Grey,  submitting  that 
Canning's  death  had  removed  the  last  obstacle  to 
prevent  Grey  supporting  Lord  Goderich's  adminis- 
tration, informing  him  that  he,  Brougham,  had,  w-ithin 
the  preceding  six  weeks,  refused  "  the  most  easy  and 
secure  income  for  life  of  ^^7000  or  ;^8ooo  a  year,  and 
high  rank,  which  I  could  not  take  without  leaving  my 
friends  in  the  House  of  Commons  exposed  to  the 
leaders  of  different  parties."  He  claimed,  therefore, 
to  have  proved  that  he  was  acting  "  without  the 
slightest  tincture  of  interest."  "  I  have  agreed,"  he 
says,  "to  support  the  leader  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
whoever  he  may  be.  .  .  .  As  for  my  real  individual 
interest,  I  believe  no  one  can  doubt  that  it  is  clearly 
my  game  to  see  a  weak  Government,  with  only  Peel 
(whom  I  never  found  very  invincible),  and  myself  at 
the  head  of  the  Liberal  part}-."  Reading  between  the 
lines   of  this    strange   letter,    it   is   easy   to   see  why 


488  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Cn.  XIX. 

Brougham  was  so  tender  towards  the  men  in  office. 
Had  they  been  turned  out  and  a  purely  Liberal  ad- 
ministration been  formed,  he  knew  it  was  hopeless  for 
him  to  look  for  political  office  so  long  as  George  IV, 
was  king.  Brougham  had  offended  too  deeply  for  that 
in  Queen  Caroline's  trial.  Grey,  who  had  deeply 
disapproved  of  the  coalition  under  Canning,  merely 
replied  that  "at  present  all  reasonable  grounds  for 
confidence  on  which  I  could  give  any  assurance  of 
general  support  [to  the  Government]  appear  to  me  as 
much  wanting  as  ever.  I  must  remain,  therefore,  in 
the  same  position,  supporting  such  measures  as  are 
consistent  with  my  principles,  and  opposing,  without 
any  inducement  to  forbearance,  whatever  may  appear 
to  militate  against  them."  To  Creevey,  Brougham 
continued  to  write  in  a  strain  of  greater  levity  than 
he  adopted  towards  Lord  Grey. 

Henry  Brougham,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Orevcy. 

"  [January]  1828. 

".  .  .  Don't  be  alarmed,  but  endeavour  to  receive 
with  equanimity,  and  if  possible  with  fortitude,  the 
painful  intelligence  that  your  beloved  Sovereign  has 
been  most  dangerously  ill,  and  is  still  in  a  very  pre- 
carious state.  He  lost  in  all  120  ounces  of  the  blood- 
Royal  in  the  course  of  about  ten  days.  The  complaint 
was  inflammation,  I  suppose  of  the  bladder,  for  they 
say  it  was  owing  to  some  illness  of  the  prostate 
gland.  I  am  told  he  is  very  far  indeed  from  rallying 
as  he  used  to  do  when  bled  formerly,  and  that  all  the 
loyal  subjects  near  his  person  are  in  much  conster- 
nation. 

"The  Park,  is  likely  to  open  in  a  very  'unsatis- 
factory' state — as  our  friend  Castlereagh  (God  rest  his 
soul)  was  wont  to  say.  The  chief  'feature' — I  mean 
Peel — will  find  it  quite  impossible  to  calculate  on  a 
majority  on  any  one  question,  except  perhaps  a  motion 
for  turning  them  out  or  reforming  the  Park. ;  and  how 


1837-38,]     GENERAL  DISTRESS  IN  THE  COUNTRY.      4S9 

he  is  even  to  get  thro'  the  forms  of  a  debate,  if  he  is 
opposed  by  all  the  parties  not  in  office,  seems  incon- 
ceivable, for  even  Vesey  is  not  there,  being  laid  on 
the  shelf  for  some  months.  The  Ultras  are  in  great 
force,  and  the  Huskissons  full  of  faction.  As  a  proof 
of  the  kind  of  steps  the  Tories  are  taking,  I  may  say 
that  your  friend  Lord  Lonsdale  has,  in  a  letter  which 
I  have  a  copy  of,  been  encouraging  the  Cumberland 
county  meeting,  advising  them  to  lay  the  state  of 
distress  before  Parlt,  because  the  Beau  desires  it ;  and 
adding  that  they  should  not  point  out  any  remedies, 
but  only  ascribe  it  to  the  burthens  upon  agricultural 
produce  and  the  reduced  currency.  .  .  .  Lonsdale 
then  seems  to  have  thought  that  it  might  be  said — 
'  How  happens  your  son  Billy  to  be  in  office  while  you 
are  thus  mischievously  embarrassing  M.M.  Govern- 
ment?' so  he  adds,  awkwardly  enough,  that  he  is 
convinced  Lord  Lowther's  first  consideration  is  the 
interest  of  the  country,  and  that  he  never  would  keep 
office  if  he  thought,  &c.,  &c.,  &c. 

"  I  find  that  the  worthy  Laureate,  Southey,  is  to 
move  or  second  the  resoln.  that  the  distress  is  within 
the  power  of  the  Legislature ;  and  a  cousin  of  the 
family  (H.  Lowther),  who  holds  one  of  their  livings, 
is  to  move  another.  Meanwhile,  the  Beau  stands  firm 
and  says  'he  will  keep  his  position;'  meaning,  of 
course,  without  any  change.  But  unfortunately  it  is 
Peel  whose  position  will  be  to  keep ;  so  then,  they 
say,  the  Beau  adds — 'he  shall  bring  forward  measures, 
and  if  the  Parlt.  won't  support  him,  he  can't  help  it.' 
His  strength  is  no  doubt  in  the  Ultras,  whom  no  one 
can  wish  well  to,  and  the  Huskissons,  whom  few  will 
trust,  after  what  happened  two  years  ago.  But  this 
feeling  won't  carry  the  said  Beau  thro'  everything, 
and  /  am  quite  confident  he  reckons  without  his'host  if 
he  counts  on  it  to  the  extent  I  hear." 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"Whitehall,  Feby.  5,  1S3S. 
".  .  .  We  had  Lord  Durham  (who  stood  my  obser- 
vations on  his  being  grown  taller  very  affably),*  Sydney 

*  Mr,  Lambton  had  been  created  I3aron  Durham  on  39th  January. 


490  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIX. 

Smith,  Bob  Adair,  Lord  Robert  Spencer  and  Ferguson 
at  dinner.  .  .  .  There  is  no  end  to  the  disasters  of  the 
Whigs.  Poor  Jim  Abercromby  and  the  fair  Mary 
Anne*  give  out  that  they  leave  town  for  ever  and  ever 
next  Easter,  and  fall  back  upon  a  little  farm  in  Derby- 
shire;  but  no  longer  to  superintend  the  dear,  deaf 
Dick-aky  Duke's  property,  for  that  appointment  was 
given  to  another  when  Jim  was  dubbed  a  Privy 
Councillor,  it  being  too  infra  dig.  to  be  a  Right 
Honorable  Bailiff!  and  about  ^^2000  a  year  more  de- 
rived from  law  sources  were  sacrificed  for  ever  in 
like  manner  as  being  inconsistent  with  his  rank. 
Scarlett,  too,  is  said  to  be  perfectly  speechless,  except 
when  he  tells  that  being  deprived  of  the  power  of 
returning  to  the  circuit  is  a  clear  loss  to  him  of  ^^"5000 
a  year.  .  .  .  When  Mrs.  Taylor  and  I  were  left  alone 
about  one  this  morning,  she  said: — 'As  I  know,  Mr. 
Creevey,  I  may  trust  you  with  anything,  I  must  tell 
you  poor  Mr.  Denison  is  broken-hearted  about  his 
sister  Lady  Conyngham ;  and  his  only  relief,  he  says, 
is  imparting  his  grief  to  me.'  According  to  his  own 
account,  he  protested  to  her  from  the  first  against  her 
living  under  the  King's  roof;  but  that  the  thing,  instead 
of  getting  better,  has  become  daily  worse  and  worse. 
Not  that  even  now  he  can  suppose  there  is  anything 
criminal  between  persons  of  their  age,  but  that  he  never 
goes  into  society  without  hearing  allusions  too  plain 
to  be  misunderstood ;  and  he  lives  in  daily  fear  and 
expectation  of  the  subject  coming  before  Parliament. 
In  short,  such  is  his  feeling  that  he  has  called  formally 
upon  his  sister  to  leave  her  fat  and  fair  friend  and  to  go 
abroad.  He  has  been  backed  in  this  application  both 
by  Lord  Mountcharlesf  and  Lady  Strathaven,  and  he 
has  told  her  his  will  is  to  be  altered  immediately  if 
she  holds  on ;  but  she  treats  all  such  interference 
only  with  bursts  of  passion  and  defiance,  always 
relying  upon  Lady  Hertford's  case  as  her  precedent 
and  justification.  .  .  ." 

*  Third  son  of  General  Sir  Ralph  Abercromby.  He  was  Speaker 
from  1835  to  1839,  and  his  wife  was  Marianne  Leigh,  daughter  of 
Egerton  Leigh  of  the  West  Hall,  Cheshire. 

t  Lady  Conyngham's  eldest  surviving  son. 


1S27-2S.]  A   QUARREL.  491 

In  the  beginning  of  1828  the  quarrel  of  the  Malig- 
nants  with  Brougham  passed  into  a  sharper  phase, 
and  occupies  a  great  space  in  Creevey's  correspon- 
dence at  that  period.  It  would  be  wearisome  to 
follow  the  matter  in  anything  like  detail ;  suffice  it  to 
explain  that  Brougham  had  circulated  a  report  that, 
at  Doncaster  races,  Lord  Grey  had  explained  to  Lord 
Cleveland  (Darlington)  the  reason  for  his  refusing  to 
support  Canning's  ministry,  namely,  "  that  it  leaned 
too  much  to  the  people  and  against  the  aristocracy," 
In  an  evil  moment  for  peace,  Brougham  imparted 
this  information  to  Creevey,  reckoning,  perhaps,  on 
Creevey's  ancient  impatience  with  Grey  for  acting 
as  a  drag  on  the  wheels  of  progress.  But  by  this 
time  Grey  had  become  the  idol  of  Creevey,  who 
promptly  remonstrated  with  his  lordship  on  the  im- 
prudence of  his  sentiments  as  reported  by  Brougham. 
Grey  indignantly  denied  having  made  any  such  state- 
ment to  Cleveland,  and  received  that  gentleman's  denial 
of  having  had  any  communication  with  Brougham  on 
the  subject.  Cleveland  also  forwarded  to  Grey  an  ex- 
planatory letter  from  Brougham,  which,  to  judge  from 
the  force  of  language  it  elicited  from  Creevey,  scarcely 
served  to  re-establish  matters  on  a  better  basis. 


Mi\  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"Whitehall,  Feb.  15,  1S28. 
".  .  .  This  composition  of  Brougham's  is  a  letter 
to  Lord  Cleveland  written,  of  course,  at  Cleveland 
House  and  of  four  sides'  length.  No  one  who  has  not 
seen  it  can  conceive  its  low,  ^nng,  dirty,  shuffling- 
villain}'.  However,  with  all  his  manoeuvres,  he  can't 
escape  the  charge,  and  he  states  in  his  own  words, 
rather  at  more  length  and  in  stronger  terms,  exactl}^ 
the  same  substance  of  tiie  conversation  between  Lord 


492  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XlX. 

Cleveland  and  Grey  as  having  passed  at  Doncaster, 
that  he  stated  to  me.  Then  he  attempts  to  make  out 
that  the  words  are  vague  and  may  not  warrant  the 
construction  put  upon  them,  and  the  Lord  knows 
what  besides.  He  goes  into  fresh  lies  as  to  his  uni- 
form support  of  Grey's  character,  and  how  he  silenced 
three  London  channels  of  abuse  of  him,  and  was  only 
too  late  by  half  an  hour  in  not  stopping  the  hostile 
article  in  the  Edinburgh  Revieiv,  and  concludes  with 
a  warning  against  mischievous  tale-bearers,  who,  for 
their  own  purposes,  would  make  mischief  between 
Grey  and  him. 

"Grey's  answer  to  Lord  Cleveland  is  that  he  is 
anything  but  satisfied  with  his  lordship's  letter;  that 
Brougham's  letter  is  conclusive  proof  of  the  truth  of 
the  injurious  statement  he  has  made  respecting  his 
[Grey's]  conversation  at  Doncaster;  and  as  his  lord- 
ship had  admitted  in  conversation  at  Cleveland  House 
that  there  never  was  the  least  foundation  for  such 
allegation,  he  claims  in  justice  to  have  the  same 
admission  under  his  lordship's  hand.  This  brought 
another  letter  from  our  Niffy-Naffy  marquis,  in  terms 
as  explicit  as  could  possibly  be  selected,  stating  the 
pleasure  he  had  in  complying  with  Lord  Grey's  request, 
and  declaring  unequivocally  that  no  such  conversation 
as  that  alleged  to  have  passed  at  Doncaster  between 
him  and  Lord  Grey,  or  anything  approaching  to  it, 
had  ever  taken  place ;  and  he  concludes  by  expressing 
his  regret  that  any  misunderstanding  should  take  place 
between  Brougham  and  Lord  Grey,  and  with  an  offer 
of  his  services — tho'  unauthorised  by  Brougham — to 
bring  about  their  reconciliation.  To  this  Grey  returns 
a  civil  answer,  stating  the  relief  it  is  to  his  mind  to 
have  this  unequivocal  denial  of  the  injurious  statement 
circulated  by  J3rougham  having  any  foundation  in  fact ; 
but  that,  with  respect  to  Brougham,  until  he  shall 
make  the  same  unequivocal  denial  of  the  circulation 
of  the  injurious  statement,  and  say  that  it  is  entirely 
destitute  of  truth,  all  confidential  intercourse  between 
them  must  be  suspended.  And  so  the  thing  ends, 
and  a  charming  mess  it  is  for  the  arch-fiend — Lady 
Jersey,  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  &c.,  having  already  copies 
[of  the  correspondence].  Grey  .  .  .  says  Rosslyn  made 
him  much  milder  in  his  expressions  than  he  wished." 


1837-28.]  OVERTURES   TO   THE   WHIGS.  493 

"6thFeby. 

".  .  .  After  our  dinner  at  Fergy's,  Lord  Sefton 
made  me  go  with  him  to  the  opera.  .  .  .  From  the 
Opera  House  we  went  to  Crockford's  new  concern, 
which  is  magnificent  and  perfect  in  taste  and  beauty. 
For  a  suite  of  rooms,  it  is  the  greatest  lion  in  England, 
and  is  said  by  those  who  know  the  palace  at  Versailles 
to  be  even  more  magnificent  than  that.  .  .  .  After 
breakfast  this  morning  I  sallied  forth  to  see  the  altera- 
tions in  St.  James's  Park,  and  they  are  really  great 
improvements,  but  the  new  palace  *  still  remains  the 
devil's  own.  .  .  .  Grey  is  quite  satisfied  with  the  Beau, 
and  says  he  will  do  capitally  in  the  Lords  as  Minister." 

"7th. 
".  .  .  In  the  course  of  my  political  jaw  with  Grey 
I  said  that,  altho'  I  never  expected  the  Beau  to  appl}^ 
to  him  for  assistance  in  the  formation  of  his  Cabinet, 
yet  1  did  expect  after  all  their  friendly  intercourse, 
and  after  all  Lord  Grey's  essential  service,  he  would 
have  communicated  to  him  what  was  going  on.  He 
said  very  naturally  that  he  did  not  think  himself 
entitled  to  such  communication,  and  proceeded  to  tell 
me  what  he  did  consider  as  meant  from  the  Beau  to 
him,  and  with  which — little  as  it  was — he  seemed  quite 
satisfied.  It  seems'  a  letter  came  from  the  Beau  to 
Lauderdale,  directed  to  him  at  Howick,  the  Beau's 
name  being  written  in  the  corner,  and  this  in  the 
midst  of  the  concern.  When  Grey  forwarded  it,  he 
told  Lauderdale  it  had  been  a  severe  trial  to  his  virtue 
to  resist  opening  it  at  such  a  time,  so  Lauderdale  sent 
it  back  to  him.  Its  contents  were  to  tell  him  he  had 
offered  the  Ordnance  toRosslyn.and  to  beg  all  Lauder- 
dale's influence  with  him  to  induce  him  to  accept  it, 
and  then  he  goes  on  to  say  he  wishes  his  Government 
to  be  anything  but  an  exclusive  one,  that  his  own  wishes 
would  make  it  even  more  comprehensive,  but  he  finds 
considerable  difficulties  from  preconceived  prejudices. 
Grey  is  quite  right,  I  have  no  doubt,  in  supposing  the 
'comprehension'  meant  him,  but  the  poor  fellow 
thinks  the  'preconceived   prejudices'   were  those  of 

*  Buckin.Ljham  Palace. 


494  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIX. 

Peel  and  the  Tories,  whereas  I  cannot  doubt  their 
being  the  property  of  Prinney.  However,  as  I  said 
before,  he  seemed  as  pleased  as  Punch  with  everything, 
and  particularly  with  his  own  conduct  and  situation ; 
and  so  was  she." 

"  8th. 

".  .  .  Let  me  mention  to  you  that  the  Tankervilles 
have  a  box  at  the  French  play,  and  that  he  and  she 
have  it  the  alternate  weeks.  Is  not  that  the  image  of 
them  both?  .  .  .  Taylor  was  with  old  Eldon  at  his 
house  this  morning  about  business,  and  Eldon  told 
him  he  had  been  shamefully  used  upon  the  formation 
of  the  present  Government — never  consulted — nothing 
offered  him  !  Was  there  ever?  Eldon  whining  at  his 
unhappy  fate  after  all — and  to  Michael  Angelo  Ta3dor 
too  !     Oh  dear,  oh  dear  !  " 

"nth. 

"...  I  went  to  Brooks's,  and,  upon  entering  the 
room,  Bruffam  was  sitting  at  a  table  with  his  back  to 
me,  convulsing  a  group  of  noblemen  and  gentlemen 
who  stood  round  with  some  good  story  Not  having 
seen  him  before,  I  took  up  a  lateral  position  to  him, 
with  my  eye  fixed  upon  him,  waiting  for  recognition ; 
which  was  no  sooner  effected  than  up  he  sprung  to 
embrace  me  with  '  Well,  old  ultra-Tory,  how  are  you  ? ' 
— '  Charmingly,  I  thank  you,  dear  moderate  Tory  ;  how 
diVQyoH  ?'  .  .  ." 

"  Brooks's,  1 2th. 

".  .  .  Sefton  is  cracking  his  jokes  to  the  right  and 
left  to  a  numerous  audience,  all  at  the  expense  ot 
Huskisson  and  Dudley,  as  if  he  had  not  been  their 
supporter  for  these  six  months  past.  I  really  can't 
approve  of  him.  Huskisson  fell  50  per  cent,  in  last 
night's  jaw,  and  the  Beau  gained  a  corresponding  degree 
of  elevation.  In  short  the  latter  will  do  capitally  :  his 
frank,  blunt  and  yet  sensible  manner  will  beat  the 
shuffling,  lying  Huskisson  and  Brougham  school  out 
of  the  field.  .  .  .  My  sincere  opinion  is — and  I  beg  to 
record  it  thus  early — that  the  Beau  zvill  do  something 
for  the  Catholics  of  Ireland." 


1837-28.]  RIVAL   MARQUESSES.  495 

"  19th. 

"...  I  was  well  pleased  with  the  hearty  effusion 
of  my  ingenuous  friend  Sir  Colin  Campbell '''  yester- 
day, whom  I  met  for  the  first  time  since  his  return 
from  Ireland. — 'Well,'  says  I,  'Sir  Colin,  so  we've  got 
the  Beau  at  the  top  of  the  tree  at  last.' — 'Yes,  but 
sorely  against  his  will.  I  can  assure  you,  Mr.  Creevey, 
he  would  much  rather  have  remained  at  his  own  post 
as  head  of  the  Army;  but,  by  God,  sir!  nobody  else 
would  take  the  office,  and  he  could  do  no  other  than 
he  did.  But,  sir,  you  may  rely  upon  it,  he'll  make  an 
excellent  minister.  ...  I  can  assure  you  the  old  Tories 
are  already  frightened  out  of  their  senses  of  him.'  .  .  . 
In  my  way  back  from  Lady  Elizabeth  Whitbread's  this 
morning  I  was  stopt  by  Burdett,  who  got  off  his  horse 
and  would  walk  back  with  me  across  the  Park,  his 
object  being  to  deplore  the  times.  .  .  .  With  all  his 
admiration  of  Brougham's  talents  in  publick  and 
his  social  ones  in  private,  his  opinion  v/as  that  the 
world  would  be  benefited  by  his  being  out  of  it." 

"  2ISt. 

".  .  .  The  Beau  has  made  Lady  Grey's  brother  an 
Irish  bishop  and  Lord  Rosslyn  Lord  Lieutenant  of 
the  county  of  Fife  ;  which,  as  liis  tivo  first  acts,  is  not 
amiss,  and  quite  enough,  as  Colin  Campbell  said,  to 
frighten  people  out  of  their  senses." 

"  23rd. 
".  .  .  Allow  me  to  mention,  en  passant,  that  the 
Marquis  of  Cleveland  remains  in  London  over  to- 
morrow for  no  other  purpose  than  that  of  dining  zvith 
the  Duke  of  Wellington.  Now  was  there  ever? — 
after  all  that  passed  last  summer.  The  Marquis, 
however,  has  reall}'^  struck,  and  keeps  the  patronage 
of  the  county  versus  Lord  Londonderry  ! " 

2;,  ill. 

".  .  .  Lord  Rosslyn  told  me  last  night  that  he 
would  have  taken  the  Army  if  the  Beau  had  offered 

*  Not  he  who  afterwards  became  Lord  Clyde,  but  a  namesake, 
who  acted  as  brigade-major  at  the  battle  of  Assaye,  and  throughout 
the  first  Marhatti\  campaign. 


49^  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIX. 

it  to  him,  tho'  he  had  refused  the  Ordnance  ;  but  he 
supposed  the  Duke  would  not  let  it  be  in  other  hands 
than  that  of  a  subaltern  of  his  own."  * 

"  26th. 
"...  I  met  Lord  Lansdowne  in  Oxford  Street  for 
the  first  time  since  his  fall.  His  appearance  alone 
was  a  sufficient  disqualification  of  him  for  managing 
the  affairs  of  the  country  in  its  present  difficulties. 
His  person  was  carefully  protected  by  an  umbrella, 
he  being  the  only  person  in  the  street  who  had  one 
up,  and  there  not  having  been  a  single  drop  of  rain 
the  whole  day.  I  congratulated  him  upon  having  no 
explanations  to  make  in  these  explaining  times,  and  I 
told  him  \i\?,  first  step  had  been  the  fatal  one  for  him — 
that  of  submitting  to  the  wretch  Goodrich  as  his 
leader  in  the  Lords." 

"27th. 
".  .  .  Dined  at  Lord  Grey's  last  night,  where  Lord 
Durham  and  Bob  Adair  were  the  only  company. 
Lord  Rosslyn  and  Lady  Georgiana  Bathurst  came  in 
the  evening.  Grey  and  my  lady  were  both  very 
much  amused  at  my  making  Lord  Durham  tell  who 
dined  at  Brougham's  Cabinet  dinner  last  Sunday. 
Durham  was  one,  and  Sefton  and  the  Duke  of  Leinster, 
Lord  Stuart  (Sir  Charles  that  was),  old  Essex  and 
four  Scotch  barristers.  So  much  for  a  Cabinet  dinner 
by  a  person  who  says  he  is  at  the  head  of  200  gentle- 
men of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  who  could  only 
muster  one  member  of  that  body  (Sefton)  on  this  great 
occasion." 

"  March  3rd. 

"...  I  met  Lauderdale,  who  made  me  go  with 
him  to  his  lodgings,  where  I  was  a  full  hour ;  but  he 
splices  so  many  subjects  upon  one  another,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  make  a  selection.  .  .  .  He  is  of  opinion  that 
any  minister  or  any  King  must  be  stark,  staring  mad 
that  would  trust  Brougham  for  a  minute.  ...  I  was 
in  the   *  Nutshell'  at  ^  past  /.f     Robin  Adair,  young 

*  Lord  Hill  had  been  appointed  Commander-in-Chief, 
t  Lady  Holland,  fiom  whom   Creevey  had  long  been  alienated 
owing  to  the  schism  in  the  Opposition  ranks,  had  sent  him  a  pressing 


IS27-2S.]   THE  DUKE  OF  SUSSEX  AND  THE  WHIGS.  497 

Lord  William  Russell,  Charles  Fox  and  myself,  were 
the  only  additions  to  John  Allen  and  my  lord  and  my 
lady — the  latter,  of  course,  being  handed  down  to 
dinner  by  Lord  William.  He  planted  himself  by  her 
side  at  the  table,  but  she  said  : — '  No,  Lord  William, 
let  Mr.  Creevey  come  next  to  me :  it  is  so  long  since 
I  have  seen  him.'     Was  there  ever?    .  .  ." 

"5th. 

'■',  .  .  So  3'ou  see  Prinney  crept  into  town  at  last 
on  Monday  night  in  the  dark,  when  nobody  could  see 
his  legs,  or  whether  he  could  walk ;  but  as  there  is  a 
Council  at  St.  James's  to-day  we  must  hear  something 
of  him  shortly.  Lord  Rosslyn  is  to  be  there  to  be 
sworn  in  as  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Fife,  and  he  has 
promised  me  to  keep  a  sharp  look-out  on  the  legs. 
.  .  .  Here  is  an  invitation  for  Sunday  week  from  the 
Duke  of  Sussex,  and  Stephenson  says,  *  Oh,  you  must 
come,  because  it  is  a  dinner  purposely  for  Lord  Grey, 
and  the  i6  persons  asked  are  selected  as  his  tried 
friends,  and  the  thing  is  meant  as  a  marked  compli- 
ment from  the  Duke  to  Lord  Grey.'  Now  in  the 
world,  was  there  ever?  Sussex  being,  or  having 
been,  quite  as  much  for  Canning  as  any  of  the  other 
fools,  rats  and  rogues.  1  find  the  Duke  of  Bedford, 
Jersey  and  old  Fitzwilliam  are  of  the  elect,  as  well 
as  Taylor  and  myself ;  but  neither  Sefton  nor 
Brougham." 

"March  17,  1828. 

".  .  .  Think  of  Grey  telling  me  that  yesterday 
morning  he  made  his  first  appearance  in  a  new 
'Wellington'  coat  (a  kind  of  a  half-and-half  great  coat 
and  undercoat,  you  know,  meeting  close  and  square 
below  the  knees),  which  was  no  sooner  seen  by  Lad}^ 
Gre}'  and  her  daughters  than  it  was  instantly  stormed 
and  carried  fairly  and  by  main  force  from  his  back, 
never  to  see  the  light  again — at  least  on  his  back." 

'•  19th, 

".  .  .  Sefton  was  very  good  fun  about  a  morning 
call  on  Lady  Holland.  .  .  .  Amongst  other  things  she 

invitation  to  dine  with  her  in  "her  nut-shell,"  a  house  in  London 
where  she  was  living duiinL;  a  temporary  absence  from  Holland  House. 


49S  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Cii.  XIX. 

talked  about  ages,  and  observed  that  Lord  Sefton  and 
Lord  Holland  were  of  the  same  age — about  56.  'For 
myself/  said  she,  '  I  believe  I  am  near  the  same  ;'  and 
then  the  page  being  called,  she  said:  'Go  and  ask 
Mr.  Allen  how  old  1  am.'  As  the  house  is  so  small 
and  the  rooms  so  near,  they  heard  Allen  holloa  out 
in  no  very  melodious  tones — 'She  is  57.'  But  Lady 
Holland  was  not  content  with  this,  and  said  it  was 
too  old  for  her,  and  made  the  page  go  back  again  ;  and 
again  they  heard  Allen  roar  in  a  much  louder  voice  : 
'1  tell  you  she's  57.'  .  .  ." 

"March  20th,  182S. 
".  .  .  Nash  or  some  of  his  crew  waited  upon 
Wellington  the  other  day,  stating  the  King's  pleasure 
to  have  a  part  of  the  new  palace  at  Pimlico  *  pulled 
down  and  the  plan  altered ;  to  which  the  Beau  replied 
it  was  no  business  of  his ;  they  might  pull  down  as 
much  as  they  liked.  But  as  this  was  not  the  answer 
that  was  wanted,  he  at  last  said: — 'If  you  expect  me 
to  put  my  hand  to  any  additional  expense,  I'll  be 
damned  if  I  will ! ' — Prinney  is  said  to  be  furious  about 
it.  .  .  .  Prinney  said  to  the  Duke  of  Leeds  the  other 
day : — '  Duke,  you  are  one  of  the  few  people  I  can 
trust  in  times  like  these.  Dine  with  me  to-day  at  six.' 
Which  he  did,  and  they  both  got  so  drunk  as  to  be 
nearly  speechless.  .  .  .  Mr.  Bankes  is  to  move  to- 
morrow for  a  committee  to  enquire  into  the  expense  of 
public  buildings,  and  the  Government  is  to  accede  to 
the  motion,  which  will  of  course  bring  Windsor  and 
Pimlico  palaces  to  view.  Well  may  Prinney  say  as 
he  does  that  'he  sees  distinctly  we  are  going  to  have 
Charles  ist's  times  again.'  .  .  .  The  Beau  is  rising 
most  rapidly  in  the  market  as  a  practical  man  of 
business.  All  the  deputations  come  away  charmed 
with  him.  But  woe  be  to  them  that  are  too  late !  He 
is  punctual  to  a  second  himself,  and  waits  for  no  man." 

"  Brooks's,  March  26th. 
"  We  have  an  event  in  our  family.     Fergy  has  got  a 
regiment — a  tip-top  crack  one — one  of  those  beautiful 
Highland  regiments  that  were  at  Brussels,  Quatre-Bras 

*  Buckino;ham  Palace. 


• 

K^^^l 

luiix  .\i.i.i;\. 


\_To  face  p.  498. 


1S27-28.]     LORD    HILL    PUTS    DOWN    HIS    FOOT.  499 

and  Waterloo.  But  his  manner  of  getting  it  is  still 
more  flattering  to  him  and  honorable  to  Lord  Hill, 
backed,  no  doubt,  as  he  must  have  been  by  the  Beau. 
It  has  been  the  subject  of  a  battle  of  ten  days'  duration 
between  the  King  and  Lord  Hill.  The  former  pro- 
posed Lord  Glenlyon,  the  Duke  of  Athol's  second 
son,  married  to  the  Duke  of  Northumberland's  sister, 
who  has  been  in  the  King's  Household,  and,  as  the 
King  said,  Iiad  his  promise  of  this  regiment  (the  79th). 
On  the  other  hand,  the  King  has  been  known  to  say 
over  and  over  again  that  Ferguson  never  should  have 
a  regiment  in  his  lifetime — for  various  offences.  He 
voted  and  spoke  against  the  Duke  of  York;  he  went 
to  Queen  Caroline's  ///  regimentals ;  he  moved  for  the 
Milan  Commission,  seconded  by  Mr.  Creevey  in  a 
most  indecent,  intemperate  speech,  and  was  voted 
against  by  Tierney  and  all  the  Whigs  as  being  much 
too  bad ;  and  yet  little  Hill  has  carried  him  thro'.  .  .  . 
It  is  understood  Lord  Hill  signified  his  intention  of 
resigning  if  his  recommendation  was  not  acceded 
to.  ...  I  feel  quite  certain  that  Lady  Conyngham's 
sneers  and  Sir  Henry  Hardinge's  fears  were  all  con- 
nected with  this  then  pending  battle." 


Earl  of  Sefton  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Newmarket,  April  26th,  1S28. 

"  The  great  fun  of  the  week  was  the  defeat  of  the 
Grosvenors,  who  all  came  from  every  part  of  the 
world  to  see  Navarino  win  in  a  canter.  He  is  the  worst 
horse  at  Newmarket,  and  they  have  been  deluded  by 
their  trainer  Dilly,  who  made  them  believe  he  had 
beat  Mameluke  in  a  trial.  Think  of  a  man  of  ^200,000 
a  year  sending  his  horses  to  a  notorious  rascal  who 
trains  for  Gully,  Redesdale  and  Stuart !  They  make 
use  of  his  horses  for  their  betting." 

Earl  Grey  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  May  I  St. 
".  .  .   Here  is  a  story,  for  the  truth  of  which  I  do 
not  vouch,  but  it  is  in  general  circulation.     The  King 
had  appointed  the   Bishop   of  Winchester  (our  own 


500  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIX. 

Sumner)  to  administer  to  him  the  Sacrament  on  one 
of  the  Sundays  about  Easter.  The  Bishop  was  not 
punctual  to  his  time,  and  when  he  arrived,  the  King, 
in  a  great  passion  at  having  been  kept  waiting,  abused 
and  even  swore  at  him  in  the  most  indecent  manner; 
on  which  the  Bishop  very  coolly  said  he  must  be 
permitted  to  withdraw,  as  he  perceived  his  Majesty 
was  not  then  in  a  fit  state  of  mind  to  receive  the  Sacra- 
ment, and  should  be  ready  to  attend  on  some  future 
day,  when  he  hoped  to  find  his  Majesty  in  a  better 
state  of  preparation !" 


The  Duke  of  Wellington  took  a  different  view 
from  Mr.  Huskisson,  who  had  been  in  the  Goderich 
Cabinet,  upon  the  Corn  duties ;  in  fact,  early  in 
spring,  Huskisson  had  laid  his  resignation  before  the 
King,  and  only  consented  to  withdraw  it  upon  the 
provision  being  inserted  in  the  new  Corn  Law  that 
the  full  duty  of  205.  a  quarter  upon  imported  wheat 
should  only  be  levied  when  the  price  fell  to  605.  a 
quarter — the  lowest,  as  landowners  maintained,  which 
was  compatible  with  the  existence  of  British  agri- 
culture. But  when  the  question  of  the  disfranchise- 
ment of  Penryn  and  East  Retford  came  again  before 
the  House  of  Commons,  three  Ministers — Huskisson, 
Palmerston,  and  Lamb  (afterwards  Lord  Melbourne) — 
voted  against  their  colleagues  in  favour  of  disfran- 
chisement. Immediately  after  the  division,  Huskisson 
wrote  to  the  Duke  to  say  that  he  would  "lose  no 
time"  in  affording  him  an  opportunity  of  placing  his 
office  [Colonial  Secretary]  "  in  other  hands."  The 
Duke  took  the  mutinous  minister  sharply  at  his 
word,  and  refused  to  listen  to  the  remonstrances  of 
Palmerston  and  Dudley,  who  assured  him  that  Hus- 
kisson had  no  wish  to  resign.  Huskisson  wrote  to 
the  Duke  to  the  same  effect ;  but  the  Duke's  military 


1827-2S.]  HUSKISSON    RESIGNS.  501 

habit  of  discipline  unfitted  him  for  the  kind  of  patience 
necessary  to  keep  together  a  pohtical  party.  Weary 
of  perpetual  friction  with  his  Canningite  colleagues, 
he  declined  all  overtures  for  reconciliation.  Hus- 
kisson  was  allowed  to  go,  and  was  followed  out  of 
office  by  Palmerston,  Grant,  Dudley,  and  Lamb. 


Mr.  Creevcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Stoke,  3rd  June  [Ascot  Races]. 

".  .  .  Grey  has  seen  all  the  correspondence 
between  the  Beau  and  Huskisson,  and  a  greater 
mass  of  lies  has  never  been  circulated  than  those  by 
Huskisson's  friends.  In  short,  everything  Wellington 
has  done  has  been  straightforward  to  the  outside,  and 
Huskisson  has  acted  like  a  knave  throughout,  and 
Ward,*  who  was  a  negociator  between  them,  like  a 
perfect  idiot.  Prinney  was  the  only  sensible  man 
besides  the  Beau,  and  stuck  to  him  like  a  leech." 

"  4tli. 

".  .  .  Well,  have  you  read  Huskisson's  charming 
compositions  of  letters  that  he  read  of  his  own  accord 
and  as  his  own  defence.  Never  was  there  anything 
so  low  and  contemptible  throughout,  either  in  intel- 
lectual confusion  or  mental  dirt.  In  short,  thank 
God  !  he  is  gone  to  the  devil  and  can  never  shew 
again.  The  Beau,  both  in  talent  and  plain  dealing, 
in  his  letters  and  conduct,  is  as  clean  and  clear  as 
ever  he  can  be.f  The  Pet  %  is  quite  right  upon  all 
these  matters  at  last,  Bruffam,  tho'  evidently  by  no 
means  extinguished,  is  damaged  in  his  estimation." 

"  5th. 
".  .  .  On  Tuesday  the  King  made  Jersey  go  over 
the  names  of  all  the  company  in  this  house,  and  when 

*  Lord  Dudley. 

t  Referring-  to  the  correspondence  between  Mr.  Huskisson  and  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  about  the  resignation  of  the  former. 
X  LordSefton. 


502  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.      [Ch.  XIX. 

he  mentioned  mine  Prinney  was  pleased  to  say  : — 
'  Well,  lie's  not  much  of  a  jockey  1  think  ! '  " 

•' Whitehall,  June  17th. 

".  .  ,  At  night  Frances  *  and  I  were  at  Lady 
Jersey's  by  half-past  eleven.  I  wish  it  had  been 
earlier,  for  we  met  the  Duke  of  Wellington  coming 
downstairs  with  a  lad}''  under  his  arm.  He  put  his 
hand  out  to  me,  and  gave  me  a  very  natural  shake, 
and  this  was  all,  you  know,  that  could  pass  between 
us  under  such  circumstances.  I  must  say  my  curiosity 
to  be  mixed  up  with  him  again  is  much  abated  by  his 
late  horrible  appointments — Croker  a  Privy  Coun- 
cillor— Vesey  Fitzgerald  a  Cabinet  Minister — and, 
above  all,  that  offensive,  inefficient  sprig  of  nobility, 
Lord  Francis  Leveson  Gower,  to  be  Secretary  for 
Ireland  is  really  beyond  all  enduring.  The  last,  I 
presume,  is  Lady  Charlotte  Greville's  doing,  and 
must,  one  should  think,  be  most  prejudicial  to  the 
Beau.  As  for  Jack  Calcraft,  I  don't  care  a  fig,  and  I 
am  sure  the  dirty  Canning  Whigs  have  no  cause  of 
complaint  against  him.  Talking  of  Secretaries  for 
Ireland,  do  you  know  of  Wm.  Lamb's  f  crim.  con. 
case?  The  facts  are  these.  Lord  Brandon,t  who  is 
a  divine  as  well  as  a  peer,  got  possession  of  a 
correspondence  between  his  lady  and  Mr.  Secretary 
Lamb,  which  left  no  doubt  to  him  or  any  one  else 
as  to  the  nature  of  the  connection  between  these 
young  people.  So  he  writes  a  letter  to  the  lady 
announcing  his  discovery,  as  well  as  the  conclusion 
he  naturally  draws  from  it ;  but  he  adds,  if  she  will 
exert  her  interest  with  Mr.  Lamb  to  procure  him  a 
bishopric,  he  will  overlook  her  offence  and  restore 
her  the  letters.  To  which  my  lady  replies,  she  shall 
neither  degrade  herself  nor  Mr.  Lamb  by  making 
any  such  application ;  but  that  she  is  very  grate- 
ful to  my  lord  for  the  letter  he  has  written  her, 
which  she  shall  put  immediately  into  Mr.  Lamb's 
possession." 

*  Mrs.  Taylor. 

t  Afterwards  2nd  Viscount  Melbourne  and  Prime  Minister. 

X  The  Rev.  William  Crosbie,  Lord  Brandon,  D.D. 


IS27-2S.]  COLLI NGWOOD'S    MEMOIRS.  503 

•"Dolphin  Inn,  Chichester  [where  Creevey  was  staying  with 
the  Seftons  for  Goodwood  Races],  August  i  ith. 

".  .  .  You  may  judge  of  our  weather  at  Stoke 
when  1  tell  you  that,  with  all  their  courage  and  con- 
tempt of  rain,  we  were  on  horseback  only  once,  and 
for  less  than  one  hour,  and  then  were  wet  thro'. 
But  if  the  body  was  not  regaled,  the  mind  was — at 
least  by  me — for  I  pitched  m^^  tent  daily  in  the  green- 
house, read  Lord  Collingwood  and  his  life  and  letters 
thro',  and  was  delighted  with  him.  You  must  excuse 
me  if  I  am  rather  pompous  and  boring  upon  this 
subject.  You  see,  my  dear,  that  altho'  the  poor  man 
was  the  bravest  and  best  and  most  amiable  of  men, 
this  personal  character  of  his  is  nothing  compared 
with  the  part  he  acts  in  history  for  the  four  or  five 
years  intervening  between  Nelson's  death  and  his. 
At  that  time  the  Army  was  nothing,  compared  with 
what  it  became  immediately  after,  and  Collingwood 
alone  by  his  sagacity  and  decision — his  prudence  and 
moderation — sustained  the  interests  of  England  and 
eternally  defeated  the  projects  of  France.  He  was, 
in  truth,  the  prime  and  sole  minister  of  England, 
acting  upon  the  seas,  corresponding  himself  with  all 
surrounding  States,  and  ordering  and  executing  every- 
thing upon  his  own  responsibilit}?'.  .  .  .  One  has 
scarcely  patience  to  think  that,  whilst  our  Govern- 
ment had  the  sense  to  see,  and  to  tell  him  again  and 
again,  that  his  value  to  them  and  the  country  was 
such  as  could  never  be  replaced,  and  to  implore  him 
actually  to  continue  his  services  at  the  known  and 
certain  sacrifice  of  his  life,  still  the  villains  were  base 
enough  to  refuse  every  recommendation  of  his  in 
favor  of  meritorious  officers,  as  he  justly  observes, 
when  parliauieiitary  pretensions  were  to  be  put  in 
competition. 

"  The  agreeableness  of  the  work  is  greatly  added 
to  by  the  constant  proof  it  affords  of  the  earl}^,  long 
and  intimate  union  between  Nelson  and  Collingwood. 
Even  in  the  novel  line,  I  have  found  nothing  so 
calculated  to  liunpify  one's  throat  as  when  one  of 
these  great  men  of  war,  poor  Nelson,  in  his  dying- 
moments  desires  his  captain  to  give  his  love  to  Colling- 
wood. 

2  M 


504  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIX. 

"...  A  delightful  drive  to  Arundel,  the  outside 
of  which,  grounds,  Sec,  have  been  made  perfect  by 
our  Barny  *  (who  was  not  there) ;  but  the  devil  him- 
self could  make  nothing  of  the  interior.  Anything  so 
horrid  and  dark  and  frightful  in  all  things  I  never 
beheld." 

"15th. 

".  .  .  The  house  at  Goodwood  is  perfection.  It  is 
an  immense  concern,  and  every  part  of  it  is  gaiety 
itself  It  was  building  when  I  was  at  Chichester  in 
1800  by  the  old  Duke,t  and  tho'  he  lived  to  finish  it, 
he  only  left  one  room  furnished.  The  present  Duke  t 
has  gone  on  with  the  furnishing  by  one  room  per 
annum,  and  as  far  as  he  has  gone  nothing  can  be  done 
with  more  perfect  taste.  .  .  .  Turning  out  of  the  hall 
on  our  right  into  the  principal  drawing-room,  60  feet 
long  at  least  I  should  say,  with  a  circular  room  open 
at  the  end — both  rooms  furnished  with  the  brightest 
yellow  satin  .  .  .  here  we  found  the  ladies  and 
various  men.  .  .  .  There  were  four  sisters  of  the 
Duchess,§  .  .  .  and  four  plainer  young  women  one 
can't  well  see.  The  Duchess,  tho'  in  my  mind  not 
nearl}^  so  pretty  as  the  Seftons  think,  is  greatly 
superior  to  her  sisters,  with  a  most  agreeable  and 
intelligent  countenance.  .  .  .  She  has  now  eight 
children,  and  lives  all  the  year  in  the  country.  .  .  . 
What  a  sour,  snarling  beast  this  Rogers  is,  and  such 
a  fellow  for  talking  about  the  grandees  he  lives  with — 
female  as  well  as  male,  and  the  loves  he  has  upon  his 
hands.     Sefton  and  I  hold  him  a  damned  bore." 

"  Woolbcding,  Aug.  i6th. 

".  .  .  This  place  is  really  exquisite— its  history  not 
amiss.  This  venerable,  grave  old  man  ||  and  offspring 
of  Blenheim  purchased  it  35  years  ago  with  the  money 
he  won  as  keeper  of  the  faro  bank  at  Brooks's,  and  he 
has  made  it  what  it  is  by  his  good  taste  in  planting, 

*  The  1 2th  Duke  of  Norfolk. 

t  The  3rd  Duke  of  Richmond  ;  died  in  1806. 

X  The  5th  Duke  of  Richmond. 

§  Daughters  of  the  ist  Marquess  of  Anglesey. 

II  Lord  Robert  .Spencer,  3rd  son  of  the  3rd  Duke  of  Marlborough. 


JS27-2S.]  PETWORTIi.  505 

&c.  .  .  .  There  is  only  one  fictitious  ornament  to  the 
place,  and  '  the  Comical '  seems  to  have  shown  as  much 
address  in  converting  it  into  his  property  as  he  did  in 
winning  the  estate.  It  is  a  fountain,  by  far  the  most 
perfect  in  taste,  elegance  and  in  everything  else  I  ever 
saw.  I  am  always  going  to  it.  It  came  from  Cowdray, 
3  miles  off.  Lord  Mountague's.  When  Cowdray  was 
burnt  down  30  years  ago,  this  fountain,  being  in  the 
middle  of  a  court,  was  greatly  defaced  and  neglected. 
Lord  Mountague  was  drowned  in  the  Rhine  with 
Burdett's  brother  at  the  precise  time  his  house  was 
burnt,  and  so  never  knew  it ;  and  as  there  was  no  one 
on  the  spot  to  look  after  the  ruins,  Bob  thought  it  but 
a  friendly  office  to  give  the  fountain  a  retreat  in  his 
grounds,  and  as  he  himself  told  me,  it  cost  him  £100 
to  remove  it  and  put  it  up  here.  It  has  some  fame, 
because  Horace  Walpole  in  one  of  his  letters  says  he 
had  gone  or  was  going  to  Cowdray  to  see  Lord 
Mountague's  fountain ;  and  its  history  is  well  known 
as  being  the  production  of  Benvenuto  Cellini,  .  .  .who, 
they  tell  me,  was  a  famous  man.  Look  in  the  dictionary 
and  tell  me  about  him." 

"Petworth,  Aug'.  1 8th. 

".  .  .  Nothing  can  be  more  imposing  or  magnificent 
than  the  effect  of  this  house  the  moment  you  are  within 
it,  not  from  that  appearance  of  comfort  which  strikes 
you  so  much  at  Goodwood,  for  it  has  none.  ,  .  .  Every 
door  of  every  room  was  wide  open  from  one  end  to 
the  other,  and  from  the  front  to  behind,  whichever  way 
you  looked ;  and  not  a  human  being  visible  .  .  .  but 
the  magnitude  of  the  space  being  seen  all  at  once— 
the  scale  of  every  room,  gallery,  passage,  &c.,  the 
infinity  of  pictures  and  statues  throughout,  made  as 
agreeable  an  impression  upon  me  as  I  ever  witnessed. 
How  we  got  into  the  house,*  I  don't  quite  recollect, 
for  I  think  there  is  no  bell,  but  1  know  we  were  some 
time  at  the  door,  and  when  we  were  let  in  by  a  little 
footman,  he  disappeared  dc  suite,  and  it  was  some  time 
before  we  saw  anybody  else.  At  length  a  young  lady 
appeared,  and  a  very  pretty  one  too,  very  nicely 
dressed  and  with  very  pretty  manners.     She  proved 

*  Crccvev  had  conic  there  on  u  visit  with  the  Scftons. 


506  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIX- 


to  be  a  Miss  Wyndham,  but,  according  to  tlie  custom 
of  the  family,  not  a  legitimate  Miss  Wyndham,  nor 
yet  Lord  Egremont's  own  daughter,  but  his  brother 
William  Wyndham's,  who  is  dead.  .  .  .  We  had  been 
half  an  hour  at  this  work  [looking  at  the  pictures] 
when  in  comes  my  Lord  Egremont — as  extraordinary 
a  person,  perhaps,  as  any  in  England ;  certainly  the 
most  so  of  his  own  caste  or  order.  He  is  aged  'jj  and 
as  fresh  as  may  be,  with  a  most  incomparable  and 
acute  understanding,  with  much  more  knowledge  upon 
all  subjects  than  he  chuses  to  pretend  to,  and  which 
he  never  discloses  but  incidentally,  and,  as  it  were,  by 
compulsion.  Simplicity  and  sarcasm  are  his  distin- 
guishing characteristics.  He  has  a  fortune,  I  believe, 
of  ;^  1 00,000  a  year,  and  never  man  could  have  used  it 
with  such  liberality  and  profusion  as  he  has  done. 
Years  and  years  ago  he  was  understood  to  be  ^200,000 
or  ;^300,ooo  out  of  pocket  for  the  extravagance  of  his 
brother  Charles  Wyndham,  just  now  dead ;  he  has 
given  each  of  these  natural  daughters  ;^40,ooo  upon 
their  marriage ;  he  has  dealt  in  the  same  liberal  scale 
with  private  friends,  with  artists,  and,  lastly,  with  by 
no  means  the  least  costly  customers — with  mistresses, 
of  whom  Lady  Melbourne  must  have  been  the  most 
distinguished  leader  in  that  wa}^ 

"  He  was  very  civil,  and  immediately  said — 'What 
will  you  do?'  and  upon  Sefton  expressing  a  wish  to 
see  his  racing  establishment,  a  carriage  was  ordered 
to  the  door,  and  another  for  the  ladies  to  drive  about 
the  park.  In  the  interval  till  they  arrived,  he  slouched 
along  the  rooms  with  his  hat  on  and  his  hands  in  his 
breeches  pockets,  making  occasional  observations  upon 
the  pictures  and  statues,  which  were  always  most 
agreeable  and  instructive,  but  so  rambling  and  desul- 
tory, and  walking  on  all  the  time,  that  it  was  quite 
provoking  to  pass  so  rapidly  over  such  valuable 
materials.  .  .  .  [After  spending  a  long  afternoon 
inspecting  the  racing  stud]  1  was  much  struck  with 
Lord  Egremont  observing  that  he  did  not  take  much 
interest  in  the  thing;  that  it  had  been  an  amusement 
to  his  brother,  and  on  that  account  he  had  gone  on  with 
it.  When  I  asked  Sefton  if  he  had  not  been  struck 
with  this,  he  said  : — '  Yes  ;  and  the  more  struck  and  the 
more  pleased  because  he  did  not  sa}'  his/><^or  brother.' 


1827-38.]  CREEVEY    OUT    IN    THE    COLD.  5^7 

".  .  .  [At  dinner]  it  fell  to  my  lot  to  hand  out  Mrs. 
Wyndham,  the  Somerset  filly,*  and  whatever  you  may 
say  or  think,  she  is  really  become  damned  handy  and 
agreeable.  ...  I  retired  to  my  bedroom,  which,  upon 
measurement,  I  found  to  be  30  feet  by  20,  and  high  in 
proportion.  The  bed  would  have  held  six  people  in 
a  row  without  the  slightest  inconvenience  to  each 
other.  ...  I  had  quantities  of  companions,  but  only 
two  with  names  to  them — '  Bloody  '  Queen  Mary  and 
Sir  Henry  Sidney  as  large  as  life.  .  .  ." 

There  follow  many  pages  of  description  of  the 
pictures  in  the  house;  and  although  the  names  of  the 
painters  are  given  in  much  detail,  there  is  not  a  word 
of  George  Romney's  well-known  works  at  Petworth, 
so  completely  had  that  artist,  so  much  sought  after 
now,  fallen  out  of  esteem. 

Having  lost  his  friend  Lord  Thanet,  by  whose 
favour  he  sat  for  the  borough  of  Appleby,  and  not 
being  acquainted  with  the  new  earl,  Mr.  Creevey  was 
unprovided  with  a  seat  at  the  election  of  1828.  Lord 
Darlington,  indeed,  possessed,  among  others,  the 
comfortable  constituency  of  Winchelsea,  boasting  no 
less  than  eleven  electors,  and  returning  two  members 
to  Parliament.  These  two  members  happened  to  be 
Lord  Howick  and  Mr.  Brougham,  the  first  of  whom 
was  standing  for  Northumberland,  the  second  for 
Westmorland — neither  of  them  with  much  prospect 
of  winning  his  contest.  Creevey  had  so  completely 
won  the  favour  of  Lady  Darlington  that,  aided  by 
Mrs.  Taylor,  she  persuaded  Lord  Darlington  to 
promise  the  reversion  of  one  of  the  Winchelsea  seats 
to  him,  supposing  Howick  or  Brougham,  or  both,  to 

*  Daughter  of  Lord  Charles  Somerset,  2nd  son  of  the  5th  Duke  of 
Beaufort.  She  married  Mr.  (afterwards  General  Sir  Henry)  \Vyndham, 
brother  of  the  ist  Lord  Leconfield. 


5o8  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XIX. 

be  successful  in  the  north.  Creevey  had  an  interview 
with  Lord  Darlington  on  5th  June,  and  found  that 
they  were  of  one  mind  in  politics,  save  on  the  Corn 
Laws,  to  the  reform  of  which  Darlington,  as  a  great 
landowner,  was  distinctly  opposed.  However,  ex- 
plained Creeve}',  "any  such  discussion  appeared  to 
me  unnecessary,  because  there  was  no  principle  I 
held  more  sacred  than  that,  when  one  gentleman  held 
a  gratuitous  seat  in  Parliament  from  another,  and  any 
difference  arose  in  their  politicks,  the  former  was 
bound  in  honor  to  surrender  it." 

He  went  down  and  acted  for  Lord  Howick  in  the 
election  for  Winchelsea,  but  as  both  Brougham  and 
Howick  failed  in  the  northern  constituencies,  Creevey 
found  himself,  for  a  second  time,  out  in  the  cold. 
He  treated  his  exclusion  very  philosophically,  and 
presently  we  find  him  writing  his  accustomed  de- 
spatches to  Miss  Ord. 

Mr.  Crccvcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Stoke,  August  3oth. 
".  .  .  Old  Salisbury  *  arrived  yesterday  ...  in  her 
accustomed  manner,  in  a  phaeton  drawn  by  four  long- 
tail  black  Flanders  mares — she  driving  the  wheel 
horses,  and  a  postilion  on  the  leaders,  with  two  out- 
riders on  corresponding  long-tail  blacks.  Her  man 
and  maid  were  in  her  chaise  behind;  her  groom  and 
saddle  horses  arrived  some  time  after  her.  It  is 
impossible  to  do  justice  to  the  antiquity  of  her  face. 
If,  as  alleged,  she  is  only  74  years  old,  it  is  the  most 
cracked,  or  rather  furrowed  piece  of  mosaic  you  ever 
saw ;  but  her  dress,  in  the  colours  of  it  at  least,  is 
absolutely  infantine.  .  .  .  Sefton  says  she  is  very 
clever,  and  he  ought  to  know.  I  wish  you  just  saw 
her  as  I  do  now.     She  thinks  she  is  alone,  and  I  am 

*  The  Dowager  Marchioness,  who  was  burnt  to  death  with  the 
west  wing  of  Hatfield  House  in  1835. 


1827-28.]  THE   CLARE    ELECTION.  509 

writing  at  the  end  of  the  adjoining  room,  the  folding 
doors  being  open.  She  is  reclining  on  a  sofa,  reading 
the  Edinbrd  Review,  without  spectacles  or  glass  of 
an}''  kind.  Her  dress  is  white  muslin,  properly  loaded 
with  garniture,  and  she  has  just  put  off  a  very  large 
bonnet,  profusely  gifted  with  bright  lilac  ribbons, 
leaving  on  her  head  a  very  nice  lace  cap,  not  less 
adorned  with  the  brightest  yellow  ribbon.  .  .  ." 

"  Stoke,  Aug.  26tli. 

".  .  .  Upon  our  return  [from  Egham  races]  our 
only  company  arrived  was  Wm.  Lamb,  alias  Viscount 
Melbourne.  I  had  a  good  walk  with  him  and  found 
him  very  prett}^  company  indeed,  and  very  instructive 
about  Ireland.  At  about  8  we  sat  down  to  dinner — 
Prince  and  Princess  Lieven,  Lord  and  Lady  Cowper, 
Lord  Melbourne,  [Sir  George]  Warrender,  Montron, 
C.  Greville,  Frank  Russell,  Luttrell  and  Motteux, 
which  with  C.  Grenville,  Churchill  and  myself,  and 
the  worthy  family  themselves  [the  Seftons]  made 
19  or  20.  To-day  the  party  is  to  be  added  to  by 
Prince  d'Aremberg,  Villa  Real,  Alvanley  and  our  flash 
Tom  Duncombe.  .  .  . 

''  O'Connell's  election  and  Dawson's  speech  at 
Derry  *  are  conclusive  proofs  to  me  of  some  great 
approaching  change  in  the  fate  of  h-eland,  and  I  wnsh 
to  see  that  country  before  and  during  the  operation 
of  this  crisis." 

*  Vesey  F'itzgerald,  on  accepting  office,  had  been  beaten  by  Dan 
O'Connell  in  standing  his  re-election  for  county  Clare.  O'ConncII,  as 
a  Roman  Catholic,  could  not  take  his  seat  in  Parliament.  The  Clare 
election  had  a  notable  influence  upon  the  question  of  Roman  Catholic 
emancipation. 


(     510     ) 


CHAPTER   XX. 

1828. 

Although  Mr.  Creevey  sometimes  referred  to  Ireland 
as  his  native  countr}^,  whence  it  is  to  be  assumed  that, 
although  born  in  Liverpool,  he  reckoned  himself  of 
Irish  descent,  yet  he  was  turned  sixty  before  he  ever 
visited  that  land.  In  the  autumn  of  1828  he  made  an 
expedition  to  Dublin,  furnished  with  letters  of  intro- 
duction from  Lord  Melbourne,  which  stood  him  in 
excellent  stead,  as  the  following  curiously  deferential 
letter  may  serve  to  show  : — 

Mr.  George  Morris  to   Viscount  Melbourne. 

"  27,  Gardiner  Place,  Dublin,  6th  Sept.,  1828. 

"  My  dear  Viscount  Melbourne, 

"  I  have  been  highly  honored  by  receiving 
your  Lordship's  most  obliging  Note  of  the  28th  ultimo; 
and  I  continued  to  make  daily  enquiries  for  Mr. 
Creevy's  expected  arrival  at  the  Hotels  your  Lordship 
referred  to,  'till  a  letter  came,  under  Lord  Sefton's 
Privilege,  addressed  to  Mr.  Creevy  at  Morrisson's 
Hotel ;  when  1  secured  there  a  comfortable  Bed  Room 
for  3^our  Lordship's  Friend,  which  proved  to  be  fortu- 
nate, because,  when  Mr.  Creevy  came  to  Dublin  on 
last  Wednesday  Evening,  and  before  he  made  himself 
known  at  Morrisson's,  he  was  shewn,  there,  into  the 
only  vacant  Bed  Room,  a  small  and  objectionable  apart- 
ment.    But,  on  announcing  //is  Name,  He  was  shewn 


iScS.]  AX    OBSEQUIOUS    CICERONE.  511 

to  a  comfortable  Room,  ordered  b}-  Lt.-Col.  Morris 
lor  Mr.  Creevy,  in  obedience  to  your  Lordship's  com- 
mands to  me,  and  for  which  I  remain  most  grateful 
to  you. 

"Mr.  Creevy  did  me  the  Honor  to  dine  with  me 
here,  on  the  Day  after  his  Arrival  in  Dublin,  when  I 
was  lucky  enough  to  secure  Mr.  Blake,  the  Surgeon- 
General  Crampton  and  Mr.  Greville  to  meet  Mr. 
Creevy  at  Dinner,  and  he  was  much  pleased  by  meet- 
ing them, 

"  It  occurred  that  I  was  asked  to  Dinner  at  Lord 
F.  L.  Gower's  the  next  Day,  yesterday,  and  as  Mr. 
Creevy,  also,  received  an  Invitation,  I  had  the  Honor 
to  call  for  him  and  to  take  him  to  Dinner  to  your 
Lordship's  late  Residence  in  the  Park,*  and  to  bring 
him  home  safe  to  Morrisson's.  I  am  happy  to  assure 
you  that  Lord  Francis  L.  Gower  has,  again,  invited 
Mr.  Creevy  to  Dinner  for  this  Day,  and  I  shall  not 
fail  to  attend  Mr.  Creevy,  to  see  all  the  public  Institu- 
tions, and  Lions  of  Dublin,  finding  he  is  so  well  pleased 
with  our  City,  that  He  purposes,  now,  to  remain  here 
Eight  or  Ten  Days. 

"  I  moved  our  Friend  Mr.  James  Corry  to  call  on 
Mr.  Creevy,  as  he  could  not  meet  him  at  my  House, 
from  a  previous  Engagement,  and  Corry  is  greatly 
pleased  at  his  good  P^ortune,  to  be  acquainted  with  so 
distinguished  and  so  highly  talented  a  Gentleman  as 
your  Lordship  knows  Mr.  Creevy  to  be.  Blake,  who 
met  him  at  the  Duke  of  Norfolk's,' and  Crampton  here, 
are  rejoiced  now  to  have  an  opportunity  of  inviting 
Mr.  Creevy  to  their  Houses  in  Dublin. 
"  I  remain,  Ever  your  Lordship's 

grateful  obedient 

"George  Morris." 

Air.  Crccvey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"Condovcr  Hall,  Sept.  i,  182S. 

".  .  .  Our  coach    was  full,    but  we    dropt    two    at 

Oxford,  and  to    my  great   delight   we    left    the    other 

iilthy  wretch   at   Birmingham    at   6   in  the  morning. 

He  had  been  eating /»r<7tt';/5  all   night,  and  flinging  the 

*  Lord  Melbourne,  as  Mr.  T.amb,  liad  heon  Secretary  for  heland. 


512  'THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  X    . 

skins  at  the  bottom  of  the  coach.  However,  I 
changed  coaches  at  Birmingham,  so  it  was  all  mighty 
well.  Having  breakfasted  then  at  that  early  hour,  I 
came  alone  to  Shrewsbury  .  .  .  and  embarked  in  a 
chay  for  Condover  Hall,  just  5  miles  from  Salop. 
Altho'  the  two  Stoke  young  ladies  .  .  .  have  always 
praised  the  house  much  to  me,  their  praises  have 
been  much — very  much — below  its  deserts.  It  is  a 
charming  and  most  incomparable  house.  .  .  .  Dear 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smythe  Owen  and  I  have  lived  in  the 
most  perfect  harmony  since  4  o'clock  on  Saturday 
afternoon,  but  other  human  being  have  I  seen  none, 
except  the  parson  at  church  yesterday,  whom  I  was 
in  hopes  to  have  seen  more  of.  He  is  Mr.  Leicester, 
nephew  to  the  late  Lord  de  Tabley.  .  .  .  Having 
known  his  father  in  the  days  of  my  youth  at  Cam- 
bridge as  by  far  the  most  ultra  and  impertinent  dandy 
of  his  day,  I  was  curious  to  see  the  son.  It  was 
precisely  the  same  thing  over  again.  This  beautiful 
youth  (for  such  he  is),  aged  27,  has  been  appointed  by 
the  Court  of  Chancery  guardian  to  his  nephew  Lord 
de  Tabley,  aged  16.  About  6  weeks  ago,  he  was 
married  to  his  aunt  Lady  de  Tabley,  who  expects  to  be 
confined  next  month.  I  am  sorry  she  is  not  \Jllegible\ 
for  this  second  marriage.  On  her  part  she  forfeits 
^500  a  year  out  of  her  jointure  of  ;^i50o;  and  his 
diocesan,  the  Bishop  of  Lichfield,  has  given  him  notice 
he  shall  eject  him  from  his  living  for  marrying  his 
aunt,  which  reduces  his  income  to  nothing.  .  .  ." 

Earl  of  Scfton  to  Mr.  Crccvcy. 

"Stoke,  Sept.  7th,  182S. 

"  My  dear  Creevey, 

"  My  curiosity  about  the  Irish  road  is  quite 
satisfied  by  3^our  enthusiastic  description  of  it,  and  I 
quite  feel  I  have  seen  it  and  the  Menai  Bridge.  This 
is  the  way  I  like  to  make  my  tours.  ...  I  don't  believe 
the  Beau  has  the  slightest  intention  of  doing  the 
smallest  thing  for  the  Catholics,  or  that  he  ever  thinks 
about  them,  any  more  than  he  does  about  the 
Russians,  Turks  or  Greeks.  When  the  time  comes, 
he  will  send  troops  to  Ireland.  I  believe  he  has  no 
other  nostrum  for  that  or  any  other  difficulty." 


lS2S.]  THE   BESSBOROUGH    ESTATES.  5^3 

Nothing  impressed  Mr.  Creevey  more  favourably 
during  his  visit  to  Ireland  than  the  management  of  the 
Bessborough  estates,  and  the  manner  in  which  Lord 
and  Lad}'  Duncannon  discharged  the  responsibilities 
of  resident  landowners.* 

Mr.  Crccviy  to  Miss  Ord. 
"  Besborough  (Paradise  !),  Monday,  Sept.  15,  1828,  7?.  a.m. 

".  .  ,  Well !  what  a  charming  day  I  had  yesterday, 
during  which  I  said  to  myself  repeatedly — 'And  can  I 
really  be  in  this  savage,  wretched  Ireland,  as  I  have 
always  been  taught  to  believe  it  was,  and  that  it 
could  be  no  otherwise?'  We  went  to  the  parish 
church  yesterday,  2h  miles  off.  It  is  a  living  of 
£1200  a  year  in  the  gift  of  the  Crown.  The  rector  is 
a  most  liberal  man,  and  acts  hand  in  hand  with 
Duncannon  in  everything.  .  .  .  The  church  is  larger 
than  yours  at  Rivenhall,  and  was  literally  full  ;  every 
one  being  perfectly  well  dressed,  and  not  a  poor 
person  in  the  aisle.  As  there  are  no  poor  rates  in 
Ireland,  the  clergyman  in  finishing  the  Communion 
service  says — 'Remember  the  poor!'  and  a  box  is 
immediately  brought  round,  into  which,  if  my  ears 
did  not  deceive  me,  I  heard  a  chink  from  every  pew. 

"  The  service  over,  I  repaired  to  my  favorite  spot, 
the  chancel,  to  look  at  the  founder  of  this  family  in 
marble.  Sir  John  Ponsonby  of  Cumberland,  a  follower 
of  Cromwell,  who  gave  him  this  small  mark  of  his 
favor  in  return — 20,000  English  acres  of  land,  con- 
fiscated property  of  the  Catholicks  who  opposed  the 
Protector  or  Usurper,  whichever  you  like  to  call  him. 
I  expressed  my  surprise  to  Duncannon  at  the  number 
of  Protestants,  and  he  said  a  great  portion  were 
descendants  of  the  English  who  had  come  over  with 
the  first  Ponsonby  from  Cumberland.     I  asked  about 

*  Lord  Duncannon,  tlie  eldest  son  of  the  3rd  Earl  of  Bessborough, 
was  created  Baron  Duncannon  in  the  peerage  of  the  United  Kingdom 
in  1834,  and  succeeded  his  father  as  4th  Earl  of  Bessborough  in  1844 
in  the  peerage  of  Ireland.  He  married  Lady  Maria  Fane,  daughter 
of  the  loth  Earl  of  Westmorland. 


514  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Cii.  XX. 

the  relative  number  of  Catholics,  and  he  said  if  I  had 
been  at  their  chapel  at  lo,  I  should  have  seen  about 
three  times  as  man}^  .  .  . 

"  Having  refreshed  nature  by  a  cheerful  slice  of 
cold  stewed  beef,  Duncannon  and  I  sallied  forth  on 
foot,  but  with  a  couple  of  horses  behind,  in  case  we 
wanted  them.  He  took  me  first  through  the  village 
[Piltown].  ...  1  ought  to  apologise  for  calling  it  a 
village,  for  indeed  I  believe  it  is  a  '  town  ' ;  but  be  [it] 
what  it  may,  it  is  perfect.  I  went  into  the  school,  where 
I  found  four  of  the  Miss  Ponsonbys  sitting  on  one 
side  of  a  school  desk,  in  different,  distinct  parts  of  it, 
and  with  a  little  party  of  5  or  6  or  7  little  boys  and 
girls  sitting  opposite  to  each  of  them,  under  examina- 
tion as  to  their  catechism,  &c.,  &c.  I  never  saw  a 
more  well-behaved,  attentive,  and  yet  more  cheerful 
exhibition  of  tuition.  Duncannon  took  me  into  the 
dispensary — an  institution  of  course  built  by  himself. 
Presiding  over  it  was  a  most  strikingly  sharp,  in- 
telligent-looking woman,  with  four  daughters — the 
eldest  grown  up — as  straight  as  arrows,  very  well 
dressed,  and  with  the  best  of  manners. — 'That  family,* 
said  Duncannon,  as  we  left  the  house,  '  Lady  Dun- 
cannon found  living  literally  in  a  ditch,  ill,  too,  of  a 
fever,  of  which  the  father  and  two  of  the  children 
died.' — This  practice  of  living  in  ditches,  with  some 
thatchwork  over  them,  was  very  common  when  Dun- 
cannon first  came  here,  but  Lady  Duncannon  has 
found  out  every  family  of  the  kind,  and  they  are  now 
all  housed,  and  very  nicely,  too.  The  dispensary 
family  of  course  have  the  house  they  live  in  for 
nothing.  The  mother's  salary  is  £2  a  year ;  all  the 
girls  have  been  taught  to  work,  and  either  make  their 
own  cloaths  or  make  for  others,  or  both  :  but  the 
result  is,  the  whole  establishment  appears  most  happy 
and  cleanly,  well  cloathed  and,  I  suppose,  well  fed.  1 
need  not  say  they  are  Catholics.  .  .  . 

"  In  leaving  the  village,  we  took  a  turn  towards 
the  more  mountainous  and,  as  you  should  suppose, 
less  civilised  parts ;  but,  tho'  the  country  is  ver}^ 
populous  and,  as  you  leave  Piltown,  more  and  more 
decidedly  Catholic,  yet  we  found  in  all  the  groups  of 
people  assembled  about  their  chapels  or  cottages  the 
same   marked  civilit}-.  .  .  .   Upon  the  slope  of  a  hill 


182S.]  LORD    HUTCHINSON.  5^5 

and  in  a  very  nice  plantation  Duncannon  said  : — *  The 
Catholic  priest  lives  there ;  I  should  like  to  say  a 
word  to  him.  Would  you  mind  going  with  me  ? ' — 
*  Quite  the  reverse,  my  dear/  says  I ;  so  through  we 
went,  and  a  rummish,  dirty  house  we  found.  A 
slatternly  kind  of  girl  told  us  he  was  at  home,  and  in 
we  went  and  found  him  and  his  coadjutor  just  going 
to  sit  down  to  dinner.  .  .  .  The  principal  was  a  jolly- 
looking,  pot-bellied,  intelligent  little  fellow  as  you 
will  see,  tho'  somewhat  snuffy  and  dirty,  with  as 
perfect  [illegible]  manners  as  you  can  find.  He  is 
quite  at  home  with  Duncannon,  and  comes  and  dines 
here.  .  .  . 

"  I  walked  thro'  the  village  of  Piltown  with  Dun- 
cannon, and  I  defy  anything  in  the  most  civilised 
district  of  England  to  surpass  it  in  neatness,  comfort 
and  really  ornament — begun,  of  course,  and  mainly 
promoted  by  Lord  and  Lady  Duncannon  during  the 
three  years  they  have  lived  in  Ireland,  but  zealousl}^ 
assisted  and  acted  upon  by  all  about  of  all  descriptions. 
I  never  in  any  spot  saw  so  marked  a  proof  of  a  rapidly 
spreading  civilisation  ;  and  yet  this  is  only  four  miles 
from  Carrick,  one  of  the  most  lawless  towns  in 
Tipperary.  .  .  .  Oh !  the  English  absentees  from  their 
Irish  properties — what  they  might  have  done  here  by 
their  influence  and  without  Irish  prejudices.  But  I  am 
now  becoming  a  bore.  .  .  .  Lady  Duncannon  shines 
here  ;  she  is  devoted  to  the  place,  likes  nothing  so 
much  as  living  here,  and  spends  her  time  mostly  in 
the  village  at  her  different  institutions.  Duncannon 
took  me  into  one  of  her  newly  made  publick  works — 
a  fives  court,  where  a  capital  game  was  carr3'ing  on  by 
the  Irish  boys  of  the  village." 


From  Bessborough  Mr.  Creevey  went  to  Cork  and 
Killarney,  whence  his  letters  to  Miss  Ord  continued 
abundant  as  ever,  but  chiefly  deal  with  descriptions 
of  scenery.  The  following,  written  when  on  a  visit  to 
Lord  Hutchinson,  his  friend  of  the  old  Regenc}^  da3's, 
gives  a  glimpse  of  a  district  less  happy  than  that  about 
Bessborough. 


5l6  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Cii.  XK. 

'•  Knocklofty,  Oct.  i,  1828. 

"  Well,  I  got  here  yesterday  about  four  and  found 
Hutch  really,  I  think,  not  altered  a  tittle.  'Well,  my 
dear  Creevey,  I'm  delighted  to  see  you.  What  a  lucky 
fellow  you  are :  I've  got  nine  ladies  to  meet  you.' 
However,  as  it  was,  only  four  came — Lady  Hawarden, 
two  daughters  and  a  sister.  .  ,  .  Lady  H.  was  lively 
and  natural  enough,  but  I  had  rather  severe  work 
with  her  sister  and  a  daughter,  between  whom  I  sat. 
.  .  .  After  dinner  you  may  be  quite  sure  I  stuck  to 
Hutch  like  a  leech  for  information  and  his  opinion  upon 
the  present  state  of  things.  .  .  .  What  a  difference  in 
districts!  At  Besborough — only  17  Irish  miles  from 
here,  Duncannon  has  not  an  apprehension,  and  during 
the  rebellion  of  1798  that  part  of  Waterford  took  no 
part  in  the  game  of  the  Killarney  district,  tho'  so  near 
Bantry  Bay.  Here  we  are  in  the  heart  of  the  most 
disaffected  part  of  Ireland,  and  a  man  of  any  property 
has  a  language  and  a  creed  in  conformity  to  it. 

" '  My  dear  Creevey,'  said  Hutchinson,  *  those 
rascals  the  Orange  Protestants  and  the  fools  of 
Catholics  who  [illegible^  the  Association  in  Dublin, 
will  bring  us  to  blows.  Lord  Anglesey  *  is  alread3' 
acting  upon  it  and  calling  in  all  the  small  bodies  of  20 
or  30  troops  scattered  up  and  down  the  country, 
because,  in  case  of  accident,  they  would  be  sure  to  be 
sacrificed.' — 'Well,'  says  I,  'what  is  your  nostrum  for 
settling  all  this?  Would  Catholic  emancipation  do 
it?' — 'I'll  tell  you,  my  dear  Creeve}^  what  it  would 
do.  First,  it  is  a  most  disgraceful  thing  that  Irish 
contemptible  nonsense  should  be  made  the  foundation 
of  such  bad  passions.  It  is  only  common  justice  that 
we  should  all  be  on  one  footing.  In  this  country  the 
Catholicks  are  50  to  i  :  in  property  we  are  20  to  their 
I.  Let  us  start  fair  as  to  laws,  and  I  have  ^  just  cause 
to  embark  in  'and  my  mind  is  quite  made  up  to  fight 

*  Lord  Anglesey,  who  lost  a  leg  in  command  of  the  cavalry  at 
Waterloo,  was  no  coward,  yet  he  wrote  in  this  year  to  v/arn  the 
Government  that  they  were  on  the  verge  of  civil  war  in  Ireland,  and 
advised  concession.  The  Duke  of  Wellington,  though  he  had  made 
up  his  mind  with  Peel  for  Catholic  emancipation,  recalled  Anglesey 
from  the  Lord  Lieutenancy,  and  appointed  in  his  place  the  Duke  of 
Northumberland,  a  consistent  opponent  of  emancipation. 


iS28.]  roWER   OF    KILFANE.  51/ 

them  in  defence  of  my  property ;  but  1  don't  like 
fighting  in  an  unjust  cause.  If  we  do  come  to  blows, 
assisted  by  the  English  government  I  know  we  shall 
beat  them,  and  all  will  be  over  in  a  month ;  but  from 
that  day  no  Protestant  gentleman  can  live  in  his 
country  house.  He  must  live  in  a  town  for  safet}', 
and  England  must  have  20,000  more  troops  here  than 
she  has  at  present,  eh !  My  dear  fellow,  what  a  state 
of  things  for  a  nation  at  peace.  What  would  it  be 
in  war?' 

"  He  and  Duncannon  are  both  agreed  about  the 
Maynooth  priests.  This  was  a  piece  of  Pitt's  handi- 
work, to  have  these  chaps  educated  in  a  Catholic 
college  at  home,  to  escape  foreign  contagion  ;  and  they 
turn  out  the  lowest  and  most  perfidious  villains  going, 
whereas  old  Magra  and  a  priest  of  ^700  a  3'ear  at 
Clonmel,  whom  Hutch  praises  most  profusely,  are  of 
French  education,  and  have  all  the  good  manners,  at 
least,  of  that  [^illegible']  nation.  .  .  .  Oh,  I  forgot,  too, 
that  Hutch  gave  me  another  good  effect  of  Catholic 
emancipation  :  it  would  separate  those  of  property  in 
matters  of  the  government." 

"Kilfane,  4  Oct.,  1828. 

".  .  .  We  came  over  here  yesterday  in  an  open 
carriage,  20  miles  over  the  mountains  in  torrents  of 
rain.  .  .  .  Mrs.  Power  is  poor  old  Grattan's  niece — his 
sister's  daughter.  Besides  this,  she  is  cousin  to  the 
great  Irish  wit,  Chief  Justice  Bushe,  whose  estate  and 
residence  join  hers;  and  who,  if  you  come  to  that,  has 
been  over  here  to  see  me  this  morning.  .  .  .  You  don't 
know,  perhaps,  that  no  man  has  more  reputation  in 
Ireland  as  a  wit  and  Liberal  than  this  Chief  Justice 
Bushe;  and  yet  old  Hutch,  when  he  found  I  was  going 
to  Kilfane,  was  pleased  to  say: — 'Then  you  will  see 
my  cousin  Bushe.  He  is  a  man  of  great  wit ;  he 
knows  no  law,  and  is  false  as  hell.'" 

"  Kilfane,  Oct.  5. 

".  .  .  Now  I  have  seen  a  real  Irish  Protestant 
church.  When  I  entered  it,  two  parsons  were  sitting 
in  a  row  at  the  reading  desk — one,  the  rector  and 
Archdeacon    of    Ossor}'— the   other   his   curate.     We 


5l8  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XX- 

were  15  company  from  the  house  and  4  from  the  Chief 
Justice's.  Duncannon  and  Lady  Duncannon,  man  and 
maid  were  there,  and,  so  help  me  God  !  not  a  soul  else. 
The  parish  is  a  large  and  populous  one,  but  without  a 
single  Protestant  in  it  except  these  two  families — nay, 
not  even  amongst  their  servants.  Mr.  Power's  steward 
or  warder  officiates  as  clerk.  The  living  is  iJ"5oo  a 
year:  the  Catholic  coadjutor  or  priest  has  £7o\  .  .    " 

"  Bcsborough,  5th  Oct. 

"Well,  my  visit  to  Hutch  really  was  charming. 
Take  him  altogether — the  very  prominent  parts  he 
has  filled  in  life,  in  all  quarters  and  upon  all  subjects, 
coupled  with  the  genuine  simplicity  and  honesty  with 
which  he  communicates  his  knowledge — he  is  by  far 
the  most  interesting  and  agreeable  man  I  know.  .  .  . 
His  position  is  very  different  from  that  of  Duncannon. 
Here  it  is  all  quietness  ;  he — Hutch — tho'  only  17  miles 
off,  is  in  the  very  centre  of  disaffection.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising, under  such  circumstances,  that  he  feels  more 
strongly  the  present  state  of  Ireland,  and  is  less 
sanguine  as  to  even  Catholic  emancipation  setting  it 
right.  .  .  .  His  notion,  however,  is  that  having  land 
at  greatly  reduced  rents  and  no  tythes  is  a  feeling 
pervading  the  great  Catholic  body  of  the  people,  and 
encreasing  dail}^  Education  (he  said)  has  done  great 
harm,  for  it  is  turned  to  no  useful  purpose,  and  with 
a  greatly  overcharged  population,  and  comparatively 
no  occupation  for  it,  it  produces  nothing  but  specu- 
lation upon  their  own  condition  and  the  means  of 
amending  it.  The  murder  of  his  own  tenant,  a  mile 
and  a  half  only  from  his  house,  was  well  calculated 
to  make  a  most  unfavorable  impression  upon  him 
against  the  Catholics.  The  particulars  were  these. 
A  tenant  of  his  was  in  arrear  ;<^700,  and  without  any 
means  of  discharging  it,  except  as  far  as  his  stock 
would  go.  Hutch  said  to  him: — 'You  are  getting 
from  bad  to  worse  in  this  farm,  and  are  evidently  in- 
capable of  managing  it.  I  excuse  you  your  arrear : 
take  all  your  stock  with  you  to  a  smaller  farm  of  mine, 
and  see  what  you  can  make  of  f/iafJ — He  did  so,  and 
Hutch  put  into  the  larger  farm  a  man  out  of  the  county 
of  Cork — as  respectable  and  humane  a  man  as  Ireland 


i828.]  IMPRESSIONS    OF    IRELAND.  5^9 

could  produce.  But  that  did  not  save  him  from  being 
most  cruelly  murdered,  certainly  by  the  suggestion 
and  consent  of  the  outgoing  tenant.  This  in  a  village, 
too,  where  the  murder  lasted  two  hours,  was  known 
to  be  going  on,  and  no  one  would  help  the  unfortunate 
victim.  Hutch  has  now  taken  the  farm  into  his  own 
hands.  .  .  . 

"  Still,  with  all  these  feelings  and  impressions  of 
Lord  Donoughmore,  when  we  got  Lord  Anglesey's 
proclamation  at  breakfast  yesterday  against  these 
Catholic  assemblages  in  towns,  he  said : — '  I  am  damned 
sorry,  Creevey,  for  this  measure  of  Anglesea.  He 
wrote  to  me  a  fortnight  ago,  asking  my  advice  upon 
the  subject,  and  I  gave  it — to  let  them  alone.  I  have 
since  been  in  communication  with  the  Catholic  bishop 
of  the  diocese,  and  received  his  positive  assurance 
last  night  that  these  meetings  were  at  an  end.  These 
villains  of  Orangemen  will  now  very  naturally  con- 
clude that  this  is  a  measure  and  an  avowed  opinion 
of  the  Government  against  the  Catholics,  and  will  be 
more  eager  to  begin  the  work  of  blood  than  ever.'  .  .  . 

"Amongst  the  opinionswith which  Lord  Hutchinson 
favored  me  whilst  I  was  with  him  were  the  following 
— 'Who  do  you  dine  with  at  Dublin,  Creevey,  when 
3^ou  are  there?'— *  Why,'  says  I,  '  Blake,  I  think,  is  my 
particular  patron.' — 'Ah,'  said  he.  Tie  is  a  very  agree- 
able fellow,  but  take  care  of  him.  There  is  not  a 
greater  lyar  in  all  Dublin,  and  he's  as  hollow  as  a 
drum.' — 'Then,'  says  I,  'there's  Mr,  Corry  of  Merrion 
Square,  who  is  mighty  attentive  to  me.' — 'Ah,'  says 
he,  '  Secretary  to  the  Linen  Board,  and  wants  to  in- 
trigue himself  into  Gregory's  place  as  Under-secretary 
of  State — he's  a  very  good  comedian,  that  fellow ;  I 
don't  know  any  other  merit  he  has.'" 

"Kingstown,  7  Oct.,  1828. 

"  My  dearest  Bessy, 

"  Don't  1  put  you  in  mind  of  Mungo — '  Mungo's 
here,  Mungo's  there,  Mungo's  everywhere.'  Well, 
before  I  say  a  single  word  about  Molly  Payne  or  an}-- 
one  else,  ...  I  must  enlighten  you  upon  the  imme- 
diate causes  of  the  present  crisis  of  this  countr}'. 
Remember,  it  is  no  vague  theory  of  my  own.     Lord 

2  N 


S20  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.       [Ch.  XX. 

Donoughmore  is  my  historian ;  he  was  a  principal 
actor  in  what  I  am  about  to  state,  and,  what  is  more, 
he  is  the  only  surviving  one.  .  .  ,  He  was  observing 
to  me  that  the  English  government  never  took  any 
measures  respecting  Ireland  except  when  pushed  into 
It ;  and  then  they  always  took  the  wrong  one,  as  the}' 
did  when  the  405,  election  franchise  was  granted. — 'Tell 
me,'  says  I,  '  about  that ; ' — and  to  the  best  of  my  belief 
he  spoke  as  follows.  ...  *  In  the  year  1792  the  Catholics 
of  Ireland  presented  a  petition  to  the  Irish  House  of 
Commons,  praying  for  a  qualified  franchise  in  the 
election  of  members  of  Parliament.  Five  or  six  days 
after  it  was  presented,  David  Latouche  moved  that 
such  petition  should  be  taken  off  the  table  and  out  of 
the  House,  upon  the  avowed  ground  of  the  audacity 
of  its  prayer.  The  House  divided — for  Latouche's 
motion  208 — against  it  25.  Forbes  and  I  were  tellers. 
Forbes  was  as  honest  a  fellow  as  ever  lived,  and 
Grattan  was  always  a  stout  fellow  to  act  with ;  so  we 
three  consulted  together,  and  we  summoned  some  of 
the  leading  Catholics  of  Dublin  to  meet  us.  Keogh, 
a  silk  mercer,  and  a  very  rich  man,  was  our  principal 
[jllcgiblc].  He  was  a  damned  clever  fellow,  and  the 
only  Catholic  of  courage  I  ever  saw.  We  told  them 
that,  as  Catholics,  they  had  received  an  insult  from 
the  House  of  Commons ;  they  ought  never  to  submit 
to  that ;  we,  as  their  friends  and  advocates,  felt  our- 
selves in  the  same  situation,  and  were  determined  not 
to  put  up  with  it.  We  said  the  thing  to  be  done  was 
for  the  Catholics  of  Ireland  to  send  delegates  to  Dublin 
to  agree  with  us  and  amongst  themselves  what  step 
they  meant  to  take  next.  But  the  Catholics  we  had 
summoned  were  all  frightened,  and  said  it  would  never 
do.  Keogh  alone  stood  firm  with  us,  and  we  said  it 
should  do  ;  and  it  was  settled  that  letters  should  be 
sent  into  all  the  provinces  summoning  them  to  send 
their  delegates  to  Dublin. 

" '  During  the  autumn  of  this  year  I  went  to  see 
La  Fayette,  and  to  look  at  the  French  armies.  1 
desired  my  brother  Donoughmore  to  act  for  me  with 
the  Catholics  in  my  absence.  When  he  took  the 
business  up,  he  was  told  by  Keogh  that  the  Catholics 
in  Cork  and  other  parts  of  Munster  were  very  sh}^ 
and  would  not  send  any  delegates ;  upon  which  my 


i828.]iLORD    DONOUGHMORE'S    RECOLLECTIONS.       5^1 

brother  went  down,  and  went  round  every  chapel 
and  saw  every  priest  in  Munster,  and  eventually  300 
delegates  made  their  appearance  in  Dublin.  When 
they  had  assembled  there,  they  were  afFraid  of  having 
any  publick  meetings,  and  told  my  brother  they  would 
be  taken  up  ;  to  which  he  said  they  sJioiild  not — that 
he  would  stand  between  them  and  the  government. 
They  met,  and  agreed  to  present  the  same  petition  to 
the  King  that  they  had  presented  to  the  Irish  Parlia- 
ment. 

"'My  brother  waited  upon  Hobart,  then  Secretary 
for  Ireland,  and  asked  what  he  meant  to  do  with  the 
Catholic  delegates  now  assembled  in  Dublin.  Hobart 
said — "  Put  them  down  by  force  : " — to  which  m}^ 
brother  said — "  You  dare  not !  but  if  you  have  any 
conciliatory  measure  to  propose  to  them,  1  offer  m}^- 
self  as  the  channel : "  and  so  they  parted. 

"'A  short  time  after,  Hobart  sent  for  my  brother, 
and  asked  to  see  the  petition.  My  brother  said  : — 
"  You  shall  see  the  petition,  but  you  shall  not  forward 
it  to  the  King,  because  you  are  their  enemy."  So 
they  selected  Lord  French,  Keogh,  Burn,  Bellew  and 
Devereux  as  their  delegates  to  go  to  London  and 
present  their  petition  to  the  King.  Grattan  and  I  met 
them  there  to  keep  them  up  to  their  mark,  and  to  see 
that  they  did  not  betray  their  cause.  We  found  that 
Pitt  and  Dundas,  after  two  or  three  interviews  with 
these  delegates,  said  they  should  advise  the  prayer  of 
their  petition  being  granted,  and  that  the  qualification 
should  be  40s. 

" '  Upon  this,  Grattan  and  I  asked  to  see  Dundas, 
and  we  had  different  interviews  with  him,  in  which  we 
stated  that  the  Catholics,  in  asking  for  a  qualified 
franchise,  had  never  thought  of  less  than  ;^20  a  year, 
and  that  they  Vi^ould  be  content  even  with  ^50.  We 
urged  again  and  again  the  impolicy  of  so  low  a  fran- 
chise ;  and  all  we  could  get  from  Dundas  was  that  it 
must  be  the  same  as  it  was  in  England.  And  so  in 
I793>  the  very  same  Parliament  that  the  year  before 
would  not  permit  the  Catholic  petition,  praying  for  a 
qualified  franchise,  to  lie  upon  their  table,  now  was 
made  to  give  them  the  405.  franchise.' 

"Well,  now  for  the  modern  priesthood. 

"'When  Pitt  established  the  college  at  Maynooth,' 


522  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XX. 

said  Lord  Donoughmore,  '  he  gave  to  Ireland  a  re- 
publican priesthood.  Formerly  it  required  some 
money  to  educate  candidates  for  orders  in  foreign 
countries,  so  that  they  were  necessarily  Catholic 
gentlemen's  sons  ;  and  they  returned  from  France, 
Spain  or  Portugal  with  the  manners  of  gentlemen  and 
strict  monarchical  principles.  But  from  the  time  that 
these  priests  are  educated  at  Dublin  fornoi/iing,  people 
of  any  property  no  longer  send  their  sons  there,  and 
the  College  is  filled  with  people  from  the  very  ranks 
of  the  population — farmers'  sons,  &c.  The  effect  of 
this  is  visible  to  every  one.  A  priest  of  the  old  school 
lives  at  Clonmel,  whom  I  can  trust  or  act  with  as  I 
would  with  my  brother;  but  none  of  the  young  ones 
from  Maynooth  will  have  anything  to  do  with  me  ;  and 
these  rascals  are  always  caballing  against  the  old  set, 
and  trying  to  get  the  nomination  to  bishopricks  into 
their  own  hands. 

"'.  .  .  A^oct',  at  last,  Ireland  is  enjoying  the  blessings 
thus  bestowed  upon  her  by  Pitt  and  Dundas — an 
ultra-popular  franchise  and  a  republican  priesthood, 
given  to  the  most  bigoted  nation  in  Europe,  with  a 
opulation  of  six  to  one  against  the  Protestants.  This 
itt  is,  forsooth,  "the  pilot  that  weathered  the 
storm."  .  .  . 

"'You  don't  know  Spring-Rice,*  alias  Jack  the 
Painter;  he  is  the  least-looking  shrimp,  and  the 
lowest-looking  one  too,  possible.  .  .  .  He  does  not 
look  above  five  or  six  and  twenty.  He  is  very  clever 
in  conversation,  tells  his  stories  capitally,  like  a  man 
of  the  world  in  great  practice,  without  any  vulgarit}', 
and  never  overcharging  them ;  but  as  for  the  interest 
he  takes  about  Ireland — I  am  quite  sure  my  old  shoe 
feels  as  much.  He  did  everything  but  say  it,  that  to 
be  a  King's  Counsel  was  as  much  the  right  of  a 
Catholic  as  a  Protestant,  and  that  /le  zvoiild  goad 
Catholic  Ireland  into  resistance  till  his  object  was  accom- 
pli shed. ^ 

"I  caught  my  friend  Norman  Macdonald's  eye 
whilst  this  harangue  was  going  on  ,  .  .  and  in  walking 

*  At  that  time  Under  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Home  Department, 
afterwards  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  1835-39  ;  created  Baron  IMonl- 
eagle  in  1839  ;  died  1866. 


iScS.]  IRISH    SOCIETY.  5^5 

home  together  we  both  agreed  that  a  more  barefaced 
scoundrel  had  never  been  exhibited  to  us." 

"Dear  Dublin,  Oct.  12. 

".  .  .  Yesterday  I  dined  at  that  attached  friend 
from  my  infancy — Mr.  Corry  of  Merrion  Square,  and 
had  the  honor  of  making  the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Shiel. 
The  others  were  Surgeon-General  Philip  Crampton, 
who  is  the  Castle  man-of-fashion  in  all  Lord-Lieuten- 
ancies, and  whom  the  good  sense  of  Dublin  has  Xtened 
'  Flourishing  Phil,'  and  there  never  was  a  happier 
name.  .  .  ." 

"  Kingstown,  Oct.  13. 

".  .  .  My  eye  !  the  quantity  of  people  I  saw  yester- 
day and  the  day  before  that  I  knew,  who  pressed  me 
to  come  and  see  them,  or  to  visit  others  they  would 
write  to.  Certainly,  there  is  nothing  like  this  Irish 
civility  and  hospitalit}^  To  think  of  Lord  Plunket 
coming  up,  shaking  hands  and  apologising  for  not 
having  called  on  me  as  he  was  only  in  town  for  a  few 
hours  to  attend  a  Privy  Council.  .  .  .  I'm  very  sorry 
I  could  not  accept  Grattan's  invitation  for  yesterday. 
.  .  .  Then  the  Knight  of  Kerry,  who  franks  this,  has 
written  to  Lord  Landaff,  saying  he  has  nearly  per- 
suaded me  to  visit  him  at  Thomastown — the  place 
described  by  Swift.  .  .  ." 

"Lyons,  co.  Kildare  [Lord  Cloncuriy's],  15th  Oct.,  1S28. 

''.  .  .  I  arrived  here  on  Monday,  and  found  Lord 
and  Lady  William  Paget,  Lord  and  Lady  Erroll,  Lord 
Forbes,  and  three  or  four  other  men.  My  eye  !  how- 
Lady  Erroll  puts  me  in  mind  of  her  mother — Acting 
Nell  or  Miss  Hoyden.  We  became  kind  of  cronies 
from  the  very  first  minute.  If  you  come  to  that — 
Lady  William  Paget  and  I  were  very  fair  too,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  civilities  to  me  of  the  young  men  their 
husbands.  .  .  .  The  Angleseys  did  not  come  till 
yesterday.  Greatly  to  my  annoyance  I  sat  next  to 
her  at  dinner.  The  young  men,  Erroll  and  Co.,  made 
me  do  so,  the  Duke  of  Leinster  not  having  arrived,  as 
he  always  2valks  out  to  dinner,  however  distant.  Me 
did  not  arrive  till  it  was  at  least  half  over.    Our  Lord- 


524  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XX. 

Lieutenant  *  was  as  gracious  as  possible — gave  me 
his  opinion  about  Ireland  last  night  in  the  most  un- 
reserved manner  .  .  .  that  it  was  his  firm  opinion 
that  if  the  Irish  people  had  but  justice  done  them, 
they  would  be  a  happy  and  prosperous  nation." 


"  Kilfane,  Oct.  23. 

",  ,  .  Lady  Duncannon  stated  her  intention  of 
going  to  the  meeting  at  Kilkenny,  to  my  great  sur- 
prise, and,  as  I  thought,  Duncannon  would  rather  she 
had  not.  However,  in  her  quiet  way  I  saw  she  was 
resolved ;  and  accordingly  she,  Mr.  Power,  Mr.  Tighe 
of  Woodstock  and  myself  embarked  after  breakfast  in 
a  decayed  old  family  coach  of  Mr.  Power's,  that  is 
never  used  for  any  other  purpose  than  that  of  convey- 
ing him  and  his  brother  foxhunters  to  cover.  Dun- 
cannon rode,  according  to  his  custom.  The  meeting 
was  in  an  immense  Catholic  chapel,  which  was 
crowded  to  excess.  A  great  portion  of  its  interior 
was  covered  with  a  platform  for  the  speakers  and  the 
gentlemen  interested  in  the  business.  It  being  known 
that  Lady  Duncannon  was  coming,  we  were  met  by  a 
manager  at  the  chapel  door,  who  told  her  a  place  was 
reserved  for  her  upon  the  platform.  .  .  .  There  were 
women  without  end  in  the  galleries.  I  was  my  lady's 
bottle-holder  and  held  her  cloak  for  her  the  whole 
time  ;  not  that  she  wanted  my  assistance,  for  I  never 
saw  such  pretty  attentions  as  were  shewn  her.  all  the 
day.  .  .  .  We  knew,  of  course,  that  Duncannon  was 
to  be  voted  into  the  chair,  and  as  he  could  not  be  so 
without  making  a  speech,  she  was  nervous  to  the 
greatest  degree — publick  speaking  being  quite  out  of 
his  line.  However,  he  acquitted  himself  to  admiration 
and  to  the  satisfaction  of  all ;  and  upon  my  saying  to 
her: — 'Come!  we  are  in  port  now:  nothing  can  be 
better  than  this,' — she  said — '  How  surprised  I  am 
how  well  he  is  speaking!'  and  then,  having  shed  some 
tears,  she  was  quite  comfortable  and  enjoyed  every- 
thing extremely,  till  the  meeting  adjourned  till  the  next 
day.  ...  It  was  a  prodigious  day  for  Duncannon,  for, 
with  the  exception  of  Power  and  Tighe,  not  one  of 

*  The  Marquess  of  Anglesey, 


i82S.]  DAN    O'CONNELL.  S-S 

the  Protestant  gentry  present  gave  Duncannon  a 
vote  at  the  last  election,  nor  did  they  ever  attend  a 
Catholic  meeting  before,  though  always  Liberal,  but 
they  went  with  the  Ormonde  family.  .  .  .  There  was 
one  speech  made  that  in  point  of  talent  far  surpassed 
all  the  rest.  The  speaker  was  a  Protestant  squire  of 
large  fortune  from  the  county  of  Wexford,  Boyce  by 
name.  .  .  .  O'Connell  is  far  too  dramatic  for  my  taste, 
and  yet  the  nation  is  dramatic  and  likes  it ;  and,  if 
you  come  to  that,  even  poor  old  Grattan  was  highly 
ornamental  too.  Then  I  became  far  more  tolerant 
about  O'Connell  from  what  I  saw  of  him  on  Tuesday 
at  our  dinner.  He  has  a  very  good-humoured  counte- 
nance and  manner,  and  looks  much  more  like  a  Kerry 
squire  (which,  in  truth,  he  and  his  race  are)  than  a 
Dublin  lawyer.  Then  Bushe  told  me  on  Monday  that 
he  [O'Connell]  was  at  the  head  of  the  Bar,  and 
deservedly  so,  and  that  if  he  (the  Chief  Justice)  had  a 
suit  at  law,  he  would  certainly  employ  him.  This, 
you  know,  makes  a  great  case  for  your  grecn-handlker- 
chi'rf  ma.n.  Then  his  face  is  such  a  contrast  to  that  of 
the  little  spiteful,  snarling  Shiel. 

"  You  can  form  no  notion  of  the  intense  attention 
paid  by  the  audience  of  all  ages  and  of  all  degrees  to 
what  was  going  on ;  it  seemed  to  be  purely  critical, 
without  a  particle  of  fanaticism.  On  the  floor  of  the 
chapel,  in  front  of  the  platform,  the  commonest  people 
from  the  streets  of  Kilkenny  were  collected  in  great 
numbers  ;  and  if  a  publick  speaker  in  the  midst  of  his 
speech  was  at  all  at  a  loss  for  a  word,  I  heard  the 
proper  word  suggested  from  5  or  6  different  voices  of 
this  beggarly  audience.  .  .  .  Yet  a  better  behaved 
and  more  orderly  audience  could  not  possibly  have 
been  collected.  .  .  . 

"When  the  dinner  was  announced  .  .  .  there  was 
a  great  body  of  as  well-bred  gentry  as  I  ever  saw 
collected  together.  .  .  .  When  I  mention  that  the 
tickets  were  ^i  155.  each,  and  the  compan}^  200,  you 
may  imagine  it  was  not  bad  company,  ...  I  never 
in  my  life  saw  a  more  agreeable,  harmonious  meeting 
— full  of  life,  and  yet  no  drunkenness,  tho'  wc  sat 
without  a  single  departure  till  one.  .  .  .  My  friend 
Mr.  Power  appeared  in  a  new  character  to  me  that 
night — I  mean  as  a  speaker,  and  a  better  one  (for  his 


526  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Cli.  XX. 

situation)  1  never  in  my  life  heard.  It  tias  been  justly 
said  by  someone  that  'no  man  has  seen  Ireland  who 
has  not  seen  John  Power;'  and  so  say  I.  ...  I  have 
had  this  letter  in  my  pocket  since  Monday,  as  I  could 
not  draw  upon  Duncannon  for  franks  in  the  midst  of 
his  constituents,  who  wanted  them," 

Mrs.  Taylor  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Howick,  1st  Nov. 

".  .  .  We  came  here  ten  days  ago,  and  shall  remain 
two  days  longer.  We  found  them  all  well,  Ly,  Grey 
looking  better  than  I  have  ever  seen  her  for  some 
time,  and  he  is,  I  think,  grown  younger  and  better 
looking  than  ever  I  saw  him.  But  I  am  sorry  to  say 
that  in  my  opinion  Brougham  will  regain  his  old 
influence  over  him.  He  read  me  a  letter  from  him 
about  the  Whigs  and  the  King's  health,  exactly  as  if 
no  misunderstanding  had  ever  existed.  In  short,  if 
Lady  Grey  does  not  prevent  it,  everything  will  be 
forgotten  ;  but  she  and  I  perfectly  agree  about  him, 
and  I  hope  her  influence  will  prevail.  Lord  Grey 
really  makes  me  angry,  after  the  way  he  has  been 
treated." 

A'Ir.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 
"  Woodstock,  Kilkenny  [Mr.  Tighe's],  Nov.  3rd. 
"...  I  really  think  a  more  worthy,  amiable  and 
obliging  young  person  is  not  to  be  found  than  this 
Lady  Louisa  Tighe.*  I  had  heard  from  every  one 
before  how  much  beloved  she  was  by  all  around  her, 
and  I  have  no  doubt  it  is  so.  She  is  quite  in  Lady 
Duncannon's  line  as  to  her  devotion  to  her  poorer 
nibbers,'\  and  quite  as  successful,  but  then  I  daresay 
Mrs.  Tighe  had  done  much,  and  there  has  always  been 
a  resident  family  here.  .  .  She  tells  me  her  sister  Lady 

*  Fifth  daughter  of  the  4th  Duke  of  Richmond  ;  married  in  1825 
the  Right  Hon.  W.  F.  Tighe  of  Woodstock.  It  has  often  been  told  of 
this  lady  that  she  buckled  the  Duke  of  Wellington's  sword-belt  when 
he  left  her  mother's  ball-room  on  the  morning  of  Quatre-Bras  ;  but 
this  she  always  emphatically  denied.     She  died  2nd  March,  1900. 

t  Neighbours. 


i828.]  THE   TIGHES    OF   WOODSTOCK.  5^7 

Sarah*  in  America  has  6  children  and  Lady  Maryt 
at  the  Cape  four.  .  .  .  She  [Lady  Louisa]  has  a  plain 
face,  but  a  most  agreeable  expression  in  it.  She  read 
[prayers]  uncommonly  well  last  night,  which  I  was 
surprised  at,  as  their  education  was  never  considered 
of  the  best.  .  .  .  We  are  to  have  the  Lord  knows  who 
to-day  in  the  way  of  company  to  stay  in  the  house  ; 
amongst  others,  Fred  Berkeley  |  and  his  wife,  who  is 
a  sister  of  Lady  Louisa's.  They  come  from  Cork, 
where  he  has  a  ship. 

"  What  think  you  of  old  Dowr.  Richmond  being 
here  for  3  months,  and  never  once  during  the  time 
speaking  to  Tighe  ?  Was  there  ever  such  impu- 
dence ?  He  being,  not  only  the  most  gentleman- 
like, well-bred  person  possible,  and  evidently  he  and 
his  wife  the  happiest  [couple]  with  each  other.  All 
the  nibbers,  of  which  there  are  shoals,  say  his  be- 
haviour under  this  outrage  was  perfect.  Do  you  know 
that  this  is  the  house  from  which  those  chicnncs  Lady 
Eleanor  Butler  and  Miss  Ponsonby,  the  heroines  of 
Llangollen,  escaped  to  that  retreat  they  have  occu- 
pied ever  since.     Lady  Eleanor   Butler,§  aunt  to  the 

*  Second  daughter  of  the  4th  Duke  of  Richmond  ;  married  in  1815 
to  General  Sir  Peregrine  Maitland,  G.C.B.,  and  died  in  1873. 

t  Eldest  daughter  of  the  4th  Duke  of  Richmond  ;  married  Sir 
Charles  P'itzroy,  K.C.B.,  and  died  in  1847. 

X  Afterwards  Admiral  the  Right  Hon.  Sir  Maurice  Frederick 
Berkeley,  G.C.B.,  created  Baron  Fitzhardinge  in  1861  ;  married  Lady 
Charlotte  Lennox,  6th  daughter  of  the  4th  Duke  of  Richmond,  and  died 
in  1867. 

§  Youngest  daughter  of  the  i6th  Earl  of  Ormonde  \de  jurc\. 
Writing  from  Llangollen  to  his  son  on  24th  August,  1829,  Air.  John 
Alurray  has  the  following  : — 

"We  had  a  great  treat  yesterday  in  being  invited  to  introduce 
ourselves  to  the  celebrated  Miss  Ponsonby,  of  whom  you  must  have 
heard  as  becoming  early  tired  of  fashionable  life,  and  having  with- 
drawn, accompanied  by  a  kindred  friend,  Lady  Eleanor  Butler,  to  a 
delightful,  and  at  that  period  unfrequented,  spot  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
from  Llangollen,  overhanging  the  rapid  and  beautiful  river  Dee. 
Lady  Eleanor  died  there  a  few  months  ago  at  the  age  of  gr,  after 
having  lived  with  Miss  Ponsonby  in  the  same  cottage  upwards  of  50 
years.  It  is  very  singular  that  the  ladies  intending  to  retire  from  the 
world,  absolutely  brought  all  the  world  to  visit  them  ;  for,  after  a  few 
years  of  seclusion,  their  strange  story  was  the  universal  subject  of 


528  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XX. 

present  Lord  Ormonde,  got  over  their  castle  wall  that 
I  have  seen  in  the  tow^n  of  Kilkenny,  broke  her  arm 
and  was  caught.  When  she  escaped  the  second  time, 
she  and  Miss  Ponsonby  found  their  way  here. 
Tighe's  grandmother,  Lady  Betty  Ponsonby  (that 
had  been)  from  Besborough,  being  then  mistress  of 
Woodstock,  concealed  the  runaways  till  they  and  a 
faithful  housemaid  from  the  place  got  away  in  safety 
to  their  [illegible'].  The  said  Miss  Ponsonby  has  a 
brother  living  in  the  county  now,  having  changed 
his  name  to  Walker  for  a  fortune  of  ;^i  5,000  a  year. 
His  wife  seems  to  have  been  quite  as  neat  an  article 
as  his  sister  or  her  friend  Lady  Eleanor  Butler ;  for, 
as  they  were  riding  out  on  horseback  one  day,  she 
pointed  out  a  good  stiff  hurdle  to  him,  and  said — 
'  Now,  go  over  that  to  please  me.'  To  which  he 
replied — '  I  thank  you ;  but  I  am  not  going  to  break 
my  neck  for  any  such  nonsense.' — 'Then,'  said  she, 
'  you  are  not  the  man  for  me,  and  liyon  won't  go  over 
It,  /  will : '  and  over  it  she  flew.  To  this  hour,  he  has 
never  seen  her  face  since  :  so  Kilkenny's  the  county 
for  fun  and  fancy.  ..." 


Eail  of  Sefton  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"London,  7th  Nov. 

''.  .  ,  Nothing  has  transpired  as  to  the  D[uke]  of 
W[ellington's]  intentions  about  Ireland,  for  a  very 
o-ood  reason,  I  believe — viz.,  that  he  has  no  intentions 
whatever  on  the   subject.      The    reports    about    the 

conversation,  and  there  has  been  no  person  of  rank,  talent  and  import- 
ance in  any  way  who  did  not  procure  introduction  to  them.  All  that 
was  passing  in  the  world,  they  had  it  fresh  as  it  arose,  and  in  four 
hours'  conversation  with  Miss  Ponsonby  one  day,  and  three  the  next, 
I  found  that  she  knew  everything  and  everybody,  and  was,  at  the  age 
of  80,  or  nearly  so,  a  most  inexhaustible  fund  of  entertaining  instruc- 
tion and  lively  communication.  The  cottage  is  remarkable  for  the 
taste  of  its  appropriate  fitting  up  with  ancient  oak,  presented  by 
different  friends,  from  old  castles  and  monasteries,  «&:c.,  none  of  it  of 
less  antiquity  than  1200  years  [!].  She  declared  to  me  that  during  the 
whole  fifty  years  she  never  knew  a  moment  that  hung  heavy  upon  her, 
and  no  sorrows,  but  from  the  loss  of  friends"  [Smiles's  Memoirs  of 
John  Murray,  ii.  304]. 


i828.]  CREEVF.Y'S    INDISCRETION.  5^9 

King's  health  have  no  other  origin  than  the  mystery 
kept  up  about  him.  You  will  soon  hear  of  him  as 
well  as  ever.  In  the  meantime  he  will  attend  to  no 
business,  nor  sign  anything.  Among  others,  Berkeley  * 
cannot  get  his  commission  signed.  .  .  ." 

Mr.  Crcevcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

''  Dear  Dublin,  Nov.  Sth. 

"Oh  dear,  oh  dear!  this  Ireland  is  rather  too 
hospitable  :  not  that  I  was  inebriated  yesterday,  but 
still  it  was  rather  severe.  A  better  dinner  I  never 
saw  than  at  our  Guards  mess,  nor  three  and  twenty 
more  ornamental,  well-bred  young  men,  Jimmy 
Cameron  included.  I  was  more  in  love  with  the  army 
than  ever.  We  drunk  a  good  deal  of  wine,  but  by  no 
means  too  much,  and  drunk  our  coffee,  when  some 
young  Hussars  who  were  my  neighbours  (visitors 
like  myself)  withdrew,  and  two  Guardsmen  came  up 
to  me.  The  name  of  one  was  Fludyer,  and  they 
were  evidently  bent  upon  a  jaw  with  me ;  so  what 
could  I  do,  you  know,  but  take  another  glass  of  claret 
with  them ;  which  I  did,  and  we  parted  the  best  of 
friends,  .  ,  .  But  this  was  by  no  means  the  end  of 
the  campaign ;  for,  upon  going  into  the  great  coffee- 
room  of  this  hotel,  as  is  my  custom,  there  were  three 
young  Irishmen  over  their  bottle,  indulging  in  songs 
as  well  as  wine,  and  nothing  would  serve  them  but 
my  joining  their  party.  Now  upon  my  soul  and 
body,  I  was  not  the  least  drunk  when  I  did  so,  sus- 
picious as  it  may  seem  ;  but  there  was  something  irre- 
sistibly droll  in  their  appearance.  Then  they  would 
know  my  name,  and  then  they  knew  me  both  by  name 
and  fame  ;  and  they  proved  to  me  they  did  so.  They 
sung  songs  and  I  sat  with  them  till  near  two  o'clock, 
and  never  fellow  was  more  made  of  than  I  was  b}^  my 
unknown  friends.  Ah!  Mr.  Thomas,  Mr.  Thomas: 
you  are  a  neat  article  when  left  to  yourself  .  ,  ,  Now 
let  me  say  this  once  for  all,  and  I  do  so  from  the 
bottom  of  my  heart,  I  would  rather  trust  myself 
with  Irish  people  than  with  any  other  in  the  whole 
world — be  they  who  they  may,  Betty,  .  .  ." 

*  Lord  Sefton's  2nd  son,  the  Hon.  Berkeley  Molyncux. 


530  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Cn.  XX. 

"  Dublin,  15th  Nov. 

"...  I  trust  you  see  our  Dan  O'Connell  has 
denounced  poor  Barny,  altho'  he  is  Duke  of  Norfolk, 
for  presuming  to  say  he  would  give  any  securities 
as  the  price  of  settling  the  Catholic  question.  A 
greater  piece  of  folly  was  never  committed  than  this 
of  Barny— so  uncalled  for— and  not  to  feel  sure  that 
O'Connell,  in  the  present  plenitude  of  his  power  oyer 
Catholic  Ireland,  would  never  submit  to  this  question 
being  settled  by  any  one  but  himself,  and  especially 
by  an  English  Catholic,  who  in  truth  is  nobod3^  Then 
all  this  is  the  more  extraordinary  in  the  Duke,  because 
he  has  told  me  again  [and  again]  that  the  great  point 
was  for  our  government  and  the  Pope  to  settle  this 
question  of  securities  without  any  of  the  Irish  nation 
— clergy  or  laity — knowing  a  word  of  what  was  going 
on  ;  for,  if  they  did,  they  would  defeat  all  such  arrange- 
ments :  and  then  the  blockhead  is  the  very  man  to  put 
the  whole  matter  in  a  flame  by  broaching  the  very 
subject  that,  according  to  himself,  could  only  be  settled 
in  private." 

"Dublin,  Nov.  21. 

"...  I  was  charmed  with  my  day  at  my  Lord 
Lieutenant's,  notwithstanding  the  settled  gloom  of 
Lady  Anglesey  and  the  forbidding  frowns  of  the 
Lady  Pagets.  The  party  at  dinner  and  their  position 
was  as  follows.  Berkeley  Paget  *  at  the  top  :  on  his 
right,  Chief  Justice  Bushe,  Lord  Plunket,  a  Lady  Paget, 
Lord  Anglesey,  another  Lady  Paget,  Lord  Howth,  Col. 
Thornhill.  At  the  bottom— Burton,  aide-de-camp  and 
secretary,  3rd  Lady  Paget,  Corry,  4th  Lady  Paget, 
Lord  Francis  Leveson,t  Lady  Anglesea,  Lord  Clanri- 
carde,  Mr.  Creevey,  and  Mr.  Solicitor-General  Dog- 
herty.  I  have  left  out  somebody  that  I  forget.  Altho' 
I  had  never  been  introduced  to  Clanricarde  X  I  threw 
off  directly  with—'  The  last  time  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  seeing  you,  my  lord,  was  at  the  Race  ball  at 
Chelmsford.'—'  Yes,'  said  he,  '  and  I  hope  I  shall  have 
the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  there  next  year,  too,  for  I 

*  Younger  brother  of  the  Marquess  of  Anglesey.     Died  in  1842. 

t  Created  Earl  of  Ellesmere  in  1846. 

%  Fourteenth  Earl  and  ist  Marquess  of  Clanricarde.     Died  in  1874. 


i828.]  THE   VICEREGAL   LODGE.  53^ 

am  steward,  and  I  hope  you'll  patronise  me.'— So  it 
was  all  mighty  well  to  be  launched  thus  easily,  and 
we  discussed  Ireland,  and  were  quite  one  in  our 
opinions. 

"  I  had  no  notion  Lord  Anglesey  could  have  been 
so  gay  in  manner:  it  was  really  quite  agreeable  to  see 
him  in  such  spirits.  .  .  .  During  dinner,  he  said  across 
the  table  to  me : — 'Why,  Mr.  Creevey,  you  have  quite 
taken  root  in  Ireland.' — *  I  have  been  very  much 
delighted  with  it,  my  lord,'  I  replied. — '  Have  you 
seen  Donoughmore  latel}'^? ' — 'Not  since  I  met  your 
lordship  at  Lyons.' — *  Have  you  been  in  the  North  at 
all?' — '  No,  my  lord,  I  had  not  courage  to  go  into  that 
disturbed  part  of  Ireland.  I  prefer  the  tranquillity  of 
the  South.'  Upon  which  the  two  Chief  Justices  were 
pleased  to  smile ;  so  did  my  Lord  Lieutenant,  and 
keeping  his  eyes  fixed  upon  me  he  concluded  :— '  Will 
you  drink  a  glass  of  wine  with  me,  Mr.  Creevey?' — 
'  With  great  pleasure,  my  lord  ;'  and  I  had  the  same 
favor  shown  me  by  the  two  Judges  and  Mr.  Solicitor. 
So  it  was  all  might}^  well,  you  know. 

"  After  a  perfectly  easy,  conversational  dinner,  we 
drank  coffee,  had  the  billiard  room  open,  and  people 
playing  and  others  walking  about  and  jawing,  just  as 
they  liked.  1  can't  think  how  it  was  that,  in  talking 
of  heat  and  cold  in  rooms.  Lord  Anglesey  said  he 
preferred  the  canopy  of  Heaven  to  any  other  cover- 
ing, ...  to  which  I  said  I  had  been  greatly  surprised 
at  a  proof  of  that,  when  I  saw  him  sitting  out  in  the 
park  at  Brussells,  3  or  4  days  after  the  battle  of 
Waterloo. — 'Ah,'  said  he,  'did  you  see  me?  It  was 
so  certainly.  I  was  at  Madame  [illcgiblc]s  house,  and 
very  kind  to  me  they  were.' — '  I  knew  3'our  house  too 
at  Waterloo,'  said  I,  'and  well  remember  the  trees  in 
the  garden.' — 'Why,  do  you  know,'  said  he,  'the 
people  of  that  house  have  made  the  Lord  knows  what 
by  people  coming  to  see  the  grave  of  my  leg  which 
was  buried  in  the  garden!'  and  he  said  this  in  a 
manner  as  much  as  to  say — 'What  damned  fools  the3^ 
must  be !' 

"  I  had  a  good  deal  of  jaw  in  private  with  Plunket 
during  the  evening;  and  when  I  asked  him  his  opinion 
as  to  anything  being  done  in  the  approaching  session 
about  the  Catholics,  he  gave  a  most  decided  one  that 


532  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XX. 

there  would  ;  but  upon  examining  him  closely,  it  was 
quite  clear  he  thought  so  only  because  it  ought  to  be 
so ;  and  1  am  convinced  that  neither  he  nor  Lord 
Anglesey  know  one  word  from  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
as  to  what  his  opinion  and  intentions  are  upon  this 
subject.  .  .  .  Betty,  my  dear,  you  were  too  hard  upon 
me  for  my  ingenuous  folly  in  revealing  my  midnight 
revel  here.  I  assure  you  I  was  not  otherwise  dis- 
graced than  as  a  silent  observer  of  the  3  frolicksome 
Irishmen.  ..." 

"  Carton  [The  Duke  of  Leinster's],  25th  Nov. 

"  What  a  difference  it  makes  when  one  has  a  room 
to  write  in  with  all  one's  little  comforts  about  one.  I 
never,  to  my  mind,  had  one  so  made  for  me  as  my 
present  one.  It  is  a  fat,  lofty,  square,  moderate-sized 
room  c;/  the  ground  floor — French  to  the  backbone  in 
its  furniture,  gilt  on  the  roof,  gilded  looking-glasses 
in  all  directions,  fancy  landskapes  and  figures  in 
pannells,  a  capital  canopy  bed,  furniture  —  white 
ground  with  bouquets  of  roses  of  all  colours,  and  the 
bouquets  as  large  as  a  small  hat.  Armchairs  ditto: 
chests  of  drawers,  2  quite  new  and  might  be  from 
Paris.  My ,  own  escritoire  in  a  recess  with  paper 
lighters  before  me  of  all  colours,  and  in  another  corner 
of  the  room  another  recess  that  shall  be  nameless, 
through  a  door,  quite  belonging  to  itself  and  to  no 
other  apartment;  the  whole  to  conclude  with  a  charm- 
ing fire  which  woke  me  by  its  crackling  nearly  an 
hour  ago,  whilst  my  maid  thought,  of  course,  she  was 
making  it  without  waking  the  gentleman.  ...  I  flew 
my  kite  at  the  Duke  per  Saturday's  post.  ...  I  left 
Dublin  in  my  post-chaise  about  i  past  two — the 
distance  12  Irish  miles,  i.e.  15  English,  and  it  was  too 
dark  when  I  arrived  to  see  anything  of  the  exterior. 
I  was  shown  into  a  long,  most  comfortable  library, 
with  a  door  half  open  into  a  fat  drawing-room,  and 
was  told  his  Grace  should  know  I  had  come.  Presently 
a  gentleman  and  the  Duke's  two  fine  boys  came  in,  and 
1  soon  found  that  the  former  was  the  par/es-voits  tutor 
to  the  others.  After  a  certain  time,  the  Duke  appeared  : 
he  was  all  kindness  and  good  humor,  as  he  alwaj^s 
is.  .  .  ,  After  a  good  deal  of  jaw,  and  telling  me  they 


iS28.]  CARTON.  533 

dined  at  half-past  six,  he  conducted  me  himself  to  my 
bedroom,  and  would  not  have  minded  brushing  my 
coat  if  I  had  wanted  it. 

"All  this  time  it  appeared  to  me  likely  that  I 
was  the  only  stranger  in  the  house  :  and  what  of 
that?  Tant  micux.  ,  .  .  However,  upon  returning  to 
the   drawing-room,   there   were   men   there,  and   the 

Duke   said — '  Captain (I   forget  his   name) — Mr. 

Creevey  :  my  brother  Augustus  Stanhope,*  —  Mr. 
Creevey  :  my  Napoleon  Mr.  Henry.  .  .  ,  Do  you  know 
Lord  Seymour,t  Mr.  Creevey  ?  Do  you  know  Lord 
Acheson  i  ? '  and  in  this  way  1  was  introduced  to  these 
youths.  Augustus  Stanhope  is  the  one  that  was  dis- 
missed the  army  by  court  martial  for  doing  Lord 
Yarmouth  out  of  a  large  sum  at  play,  .  .  .  Then 
entered  the  Duchess,  and  from  the  prettyness  of  her 
manner  it  was  quite  impossible  not  to  feel  at  home 
with  her  from  that  moment ;  but  she  is  not  nearly  so 
pretty  as  I  expected.  .  .  .  Well  of  course  one  of  the 
quality  lads  handed  her  out :  the  others  were  on 
her  other  side,  and  I  pitched  my  tent  with  my  right 
ear  to  her,§  next  Lord  Seymour,  and  brought  her  into 
action  in  the  first  3  minutes.  She  evidently  was 
all  for  '  de  laugh,'  and  two  more  demure,  negative 
striplings  could  not  well  be  than  her  neighbours 
appeared.  .  .  .  They  seemed  somewhat  astonished 
at  the  free  and  easy  position  that  I  took  up  ;  how- 
ever I  took  the  lead  and  kept  it  till  we  all  went  to 
bed  at  11^.  .  .  . 


"This  morning,  breakfast  punctually  at  \  past  nine 
.  .  .  the  nobility  sprigs  still  mute,  and  everything  to 
be  done  by  Mr.  Thomas. 

"After  breakfast,  I  walked  with  the  Duchess  and 
her  brother,  and  when  the  latter  left  us,  she  proposed 
showing  me  her  cottage  and  flower-garden.  .  .  .  Whilst 
we  were  there,  the  Duke  arrived  with  the  lordh'ngs, 
being  on  his  way  to  show  them  Maynooth  College, 

*  Eleventh  son  of  the  3rd  Earl  of  Harrington,  and  brother  of  the 
Duchess  of  Leinster. 

t  Eldest  son  of  nth  Duke  of  Somerset :  succeeded  as  12th  Duke 
on  his  father's  death  in  1855. 

X  Succeeded  his  father  in  1849  as  3rd  Earl  of  Gosford. 

§  Mr.  Creevey  was  very  deaf  in  the  left  ear. 


534  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XX. 

about  a  mile  and  a  half  (Irish)  further  on  :  so  he  said 
— 'Would  you  like  to  see  it,  Mr.  Creevey?' — 'Very 
much,'  said  I,  but  then  muttered  something  at  our  not 
having  the  Duchess. — '  O,  a  thousand  thanks,'  said  she; 
'  I  am  a  great  walker,  and  will  walk  there  too : '  and 
so  she  did,  and  pretty  well  bespattered  she  was  when 
we  returned  just  now. 

"  However,  I  have  been  thro'  the  college,  and  seen 
a  good  many  of  these  380  precious  blackguards  that 
are  now  in  college  there,  and  of  all  the  disgusting 
concerns  for  filth  the  Maynooth  business  stands  pre- 
eminent. And  yet  these  are  the  men  that  are  to  guide 
and  controul  the  whole  Catholic  population  of  Ireland. 
Maynooth  Castle  in  its  ruins  is  an  immense  concern. 
It  was  the  residence  of  this  family  [the  Fitzgeralds] 
and  joins  the  ground  which  was  let  by  the  late  Duke 
for  the  college. 

"In  returning  thro'  the  town  of  Maynooth,  which 
belongs  to  the  Duke  entirely,  I  was  sorry  to  see  how 
inferior  it  was  in  neatness  to  Piltown  and  Lady  Louisa 
Tighe's  town  ;  nor  did  the  Duchess  seem  to  know  any 
of  the  people  at  their  doors  as  we  passed.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  both  he  and  she  are  excellent  people,  but 
somehow  they  don't  seem  to  have  hit  off  the  art  of 
having  a  neat  neighbourhood.  And  yet  they  both 
praise  the  Irish  people  extremely." 

"  Kinmell,  St.  Asaph's  [Mr.  Hughes's],  Nov.  29. 

"  '  Taffy  was  a  Welshman,  Tafify  was  a  ihief ; 
Taffy  in  stupidity  exceeds  all  belief.' 

Altho'  he  is  so  well  and  warmly  clothed,  what  an 
inferior  article  he  is  to  poor,  ragged,  dirty,  sprightly 
Pat.  .  .  ." 


(     535     ) 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

1829. 

The  successive  stages  in  the  conversion  of  the  Tory 
Government  to  Roman  Catholic  Emancipation  have 
been  abundantly  discussed  v^ithout  bringing  home  to 
the  apprehension  of  most  people  that,  in  truth,  there 
were  no  such  stages.  The  circumstances  have  been 
obscured  by  the  recall  of  the  pro-Catholic  Lord 
Lieutenant,  Anglesey,  and  the  appointment  of  the 
anti-Catholic  Lieutenant,  Northumberland,  but  that 
had  really  no  bearing  upon  the  question.  Anglesey 
had  acted  in  what  his  old  chief,  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton, considered  an  insubordinate  manner,  and  was 
treated  as  relentlessly  as  Norman  Ramsay  had  been 
dealt  with  after  Vittoria.  There  was  no  question  of 
ministerial  policy  involved ;  the  puzzle  arises  out  of 
the  Prime  Minister  acting  with  a  total  want  of  that 
ambiguity  which  usually  envelopes  ministerial  acts. 
The  victory  of  Daniel  O'Connell  and  the  Catholic 
Association  over  Vesey  FitzGerald,  appointed  Pre- 
sident of  the  Board  of  Trade,  in  the  election  for  County 
Clare,  had  convinced  Wellington  that  relief  could  no 
longer  be  withheld  from  the  Catholics.  The  position 
held  by  the  Government  ever  since  the  question  had 
driven  Pitt  out  of  office  in  1801  must  be  abandoned  ; 
but  he  was  too  old  a  campaigner  to  allow  the  enem3' 

2  o 


53^  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXI. 

to  know  the  hour  and  order  of  evacuation.  Peel  was 
to  be  converted  and  the  King  be  forced  to  consent, 
before  the  orders  should  be  issued  which,  he  knew, 
would  breed  mutiny  in  his  own  ranks.  No  sign  should 
betray  his  purpose  till  all  was  prepared  :  the  accus- 
tomed guards  should  be  mounted — the  regular  sentries 
posted — till  the  very  last  moment.  The  appointment 
of  the  Duke  of  Northumberland  in  succession  to  Lord 
Anglesey  was  in  accord  with  the  spirit  of  a  General 
Order  which  had  never  been  suspended  or  revoked 
— No  indulgence  to  Roman  Catholics.  It  is  the 
secrecy  and  suddenness  of  Wellington's  movements 
which  have  perplexed  historians,  accustomed  to  the 
more  tentative  and  tortuous  ways  of  politicians. 

Mr.  Creevcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"Whitehall,  Feby.  3,  1829. 
".  .  .  Every  one  was  up  with  the  news  of  the  day 
— that  Wellington  had  decided  to  let  the  Catholics  into 
Parliament.  ...  I  have  always,  you  know,  been  con- 
vinced that  the  Beau  must  and  would  do  something 
upon  this  subject,  and  what  it  is  to  be  we  now  must 
very  shortly  know.  .  .  ." 

"5th. 

"  Our  only  visitor  last  night  was  Sefton,  who 
arrived  about  12,  bringing  with  him  the  correspon- 
dence between  the  Duke  of  Wellington  and  Lord 
Anglesey,  which  the  latter  had  lent  to  Sefton  to  be 
returned  the  next  morning  at  11.  He  read  it  to 
Mrs.  Taylor  and  me,  and  it  was  \  past  one  before  he 
had  done.  The  Beau,  according  to  custom,  writes 
atrociously,  and  his  charges  against  Lord  Anglesey 
are  of  the  rummest  kind,  such  as  being  too  much 
addicted  to  popular  courses,  going  to  Lord  Clonciirry  s, 
being  too  civil  to  Catholic  leaders,  not  turning  Mr. 
O'Gorman  Mahon  out  of  the  commission  of  the  peace, 
&c.,  &c.     There  are  letters  full  of  such  stuff,  and  Lord 


i).\Ni]':i,  o'(;(jx.\i-:li,,  m.i". 


{To  face  p.  536. 


1829.]  CATHOLIC   EMANCIPATION  537 

Anglesey  in  his  answers  beats  him  easy  in  all  ways. 
.  .  .  The  Whigs  are  quite  as  sore  as  the  Brunswickers 
at  this  victory  of  the  Beau  over  Prinney  and  his 
Catholic  prejudices.  They  had  arranged  the  most 
brilliant  opposition  for  the  approaching  session,  and 
this  coup  of  the  Duke's  has  blown  up  the  whole 
concern. 

""At  Brooks's  last  night  the  deceased  poet  Rogers 
came  up  to  beg  I  would  meet  Brougham  at  dinner  at 
his  house  on  Wednesday." 

"6th. 
*'.  .  .  It  does  Wellington  infinite  honor;  the  only 
drawback  to  his  fame  on  this  occasion  is  his  silence  to 
Anglesey  as  to  his  intentions  ;  but  he  has  been  jealous 
of  his  brother  soldier  playing  the  popular  in  Ireland, 
and  so  has  sacrificed  the  man,  while  adopting  his 
opinions." 

"  7th. 
"  Here  is  little  Twitch,  alias  Scroop,  alias  Premier 
Duke,  Hereditary  Earl  Marshal,  who  is  sitting  by  my 
side  and  who  reckons  himself  sure  of  franking  a  letter 
for  you  before  the  session  closes.  The  removal  of 
Catholic  disabilities  would  permit  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk  to  take  his  seat  in  the  Lords." 

"nth. 
".  .  .  '  Ra-ally,'  as  Mrs.  Taylor  would  say.  Peel 
makes  a  great  figure.*  His  physick  for  the  [Catholic] 
Association  is  as  mild  as  milk,  and  for  a  year  only.  It 
is  such  a  new  and  important  feature  in  this  Tory  devo- 
lution to  have  no  blackguarding  or  calling  names  of 
any  one.  There  begins  to  be  an  alarm  about  the  Lords, 
but  I  have  no  doubt  without  foundation.  It  is  clear  to 
me  from  the  Duke  of  Rutland's  speech  that  he  will 
ultimately  support  the  Beau,  and  I  have  my  doubts 
whether  the  Bishop  of  London  t  won't  do  so  like- 
wise. .  .  .  Lord  Sefton  has  broke  the  bank  at  Crock- 
ford's  two  nights  following.  He  tells  me  he  carried 
off  £7000." 

*  As  Home  Secretary,  Peel  was  responsible  for  the  government  of 
Ireland,  which  was  then  administered  from  the  Home  Office, 
t  C.  J.  Blomfield. 


538  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.      [Ch.  XXI. 

"i2th  Feby.,  1829. 

".  .  .  Our  party  at  the  deceased  poet's  [Rogers]  last 
night  was  his  brother  and  living  poet  and  wit — 
Luttrell,  Sefton,  Lord  Durham,  Burdett,  Lord  Robert 
[Spencer],  Brougham  and  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  and 
we  had  a  merry  day  enough.  ..." 

"  Brooks's,  Feb.  14. 
".  .  ,  There  is  nothing  going  forward  except  this 
reported   visit   of  the  Duke   of  .  .  .  Are  you   aware 
that   Captain    Garth    is   the    son    of    this    Duke    by 

Princess   .*      General  Garth,   at   the   suit  of  the 

old  King,  consented  to  pass  for  the  father  of  this  son. 
The  latter,  in  every  way  worthy  of  his  villainous 
father,  has  shown  all  the  letters  upon  this  occasion, 
including  one  of  the  King's.  The  poor  woman  has 
always  said  that  this  business  would  be  her  death. 
Garth  asks  ;^30,ooo  for  the  letters,  and,  to  enhance 
their  value,  shews  the  worst  part  of  them." 

"1 8th.  ' 

".  .  .  The  Whigs  are  as  sore  as  be  damned  at 
Wellington  distinguishing  himself  and  at  Lord  Grey's 
just  panegyrick  upon  Peel  the  other  night.  A  neat 
figure  they  [the  Whigs]  would  have  cut  in  such  a 
storm  ;  but,  to  do  them  justice,  they  would  never  have 
attempted  it.  .  .  ." 

"  March  2nd. 
"Now  I  wonder  if  Oggt  is  to  be  depended  on. 
Our  Whigs,  who  hate  the  Beau  and  Peel  and  Grey 
with  all  their  hearts,  and  are  mad  to  the  last  degree 
that  the  two  former  have  taken  the  Catholick  cause 
out  of  their  own  feeble  and  perfidious  hands,  and  who 
are  always  croaking  about  the  projected  Bill  as  being- 
sure  to  contain  some  conditions  and  provisions  that 
will  be  quite  inadmissible  to  the  dear  Liberals — the 
said  Whigs  are  to-day  more  chopfallen  than  ever  upon 
the  visits  that  have  been  taking  place  the  last  two 

*  One  should  hesitate  to  withdraw  the  veil  from  this  ugly  affair, 
were  it  not  that  it  has  been  freely  discussed  and  made  public  property 
in  the  recently  published  letters  of  Madame  do  Lieven. 

t  Lord  Kensincfton. 


i829.]  THE    GARTH    SCANDAL.  539 

days  by  the  Beau  and  Chancellor  to  Windsor,  and 
then  the  Beau  waiting  upon  the  D.  of  Cumberland  as 
soon  as  he  came  back,  in  short,  it  is  settled  amongst 
them  that  the  Dutchess  of  Gloucester  and  D.  of  Cum- 
berland have  made  such  an  impression  upon  Prinney 
against  the  Pope,  that  he  is  considered  as  quite  certain 
to  be  upon  the  jib ;  and  such  is  the  supposed  con- 
sternation of  the  Ministers,  that  Tommy  Tyrrwhitt 
told  me  he  had  seen  with  his  own  eyes  to-day  Lord 
EUenborough  come  into  the  Court  of  Chancery  twice, 
go  upon  the  Bench  to  the  Chancellor,  put  his  mouth 
close  under  his  wig,  and  keep  it  there  at  least  five 
minutes  at  a  time. 

"  So,  having  just  met  old  Ogg  in  the  street  in 
spectacles,  he  having  lost  an  eye  since  I  last  saw  him, 
and  after  hearing  an  account  of  the  different  calamities 
affecting  his  life,  property  and  character,  we  got  to 
this  Windsor  gossip.  So  says  Ogg  in  his  accustomed 
manner — '  Damme !  I  know  exactly  what  it  is  all 
about,  and  if  you  promise  never  to  mention  my  name, 
I'll  tell  you.'  I  need  not  observe  that  the  condition 
he  imposed  upon  me  I  should  have  gratuitouslj' 
adopted,  as  the  disclosure  would,  with  most,  destro}' 
my  story.  However,  he  swore  he  knew  the  facts  of 
his  ov/n  knowledge,  and  they  are  these. 

"  Knight,  a  barrister  of  the  Court  of  Chancery,  has 
been  advertising  the  Chancellor  lately  that  on  this 
day  he  should  move  for  an  injunction  against  Sir 
Herbert  Taylor  about  Garth's  letters,  which  have  been 
placed  in  his  hands  under  some  agreement  with  Garth, 
and  which  the  latter  or  his  creditors  wish  to  make 
more  favorable  for  themselves ;  ji^sooo  a  year  for  life 
and  ;^io,ooo  in  hand  were  the  considerations,  but  it  is 
sought  to  make  it ;{;"  16,000  in  hand.  Ogg  adds  that  it  is 
the  fear  of  all  this  being  made  publick  that  has  caused 
all  these  mutinies  between  the  Beau  and  Prinney  and 
Chancellor  and  D.  of  Cumberland.  Ogg  says,  too,  that 
he  knows  all  the  contents  of  these  letters,  and  stated 
quite  enough  of  them  to  account  for  all  this  Windsor 
hurry-scurry.  .  .  . 

"  Well,  1  had  really  a  charming  gay  dinner  at 
old  Sally's  *  yesterday.     Lady  Sefton  and  her  2  eldest 

*  Sarah,  Marchioness  of  Sahsbury. 


540  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXI. 

daughters,  the  young  Lady  Salisbury,  Lord  Arthur 
[Hill],  Sefton,  Henry  [Molyneux],  a  Talbot,  Hy.  de 
Roos,  Montgomery  and  Sebright.  .  .  .  Upon  my 
word  I  was  wrong  about  Lady  Lyndhurst.  She  has 
beautiful  eyes  and  such  a  way  of  using  them  that 
quite  shocked  Lady  Louisa  and  me.  .  .  .  Old  Clare 
fairly  rowed  me  last  night,  or  affected  to  do  so,  for 
not  coming  to  see  her  in  Ireland.  You  know  her  son 
and  his  wife  are  parted,  the  latter  giving  as  her  reason 
for  wishing  it  that  she  had  only  married  him  to  please 
her  mother,  and  that  now  she  was  dead  there  was  no 
use  in  going  on  together.  He  has  given  her  back 
every  farthing  of  her  fortune,  which  was  ;^5o,ooo  or 
;^6o,ooo." 

"3rd. 
"...  I  saw  a  good  deal  of  young  Lady  Emily 
Cowper,*  who  is  the  leading  favorite  of  the  town 
so  far.  She  is  very  inferior  to  her  fame  for  looks,  but 
is  very  natural,  lively,  and  appears  a  good-natured 
young  person." 

"6th. 

''Well,  the  Whig  croaking  must  end  now.  The 
Beau  is  immortalised  by  his  views  and  measures  as 
detailed  by  Peel  last  night.  I  certainly,  for  one,  think 
it  an  unjust  thing  to  alter  the  election  franchise  from 
405.  tO;^io;  but  considering  the  perfection  of  every 
other  part  and  the  difficulty  there  must  have  been  in 
bringing  Prinney  up  to  this  mark,  I  should,  were  I 
in  Parliament,  swallow  the  franchise  thing  without 
hesitation ;  and  so  I  am  happy  to  find  a  meeting  ot 
our  Whigs  at  Burdett's  to-day  have  agreed  to  do.  .  .  . 
Only  think  of  the  old  notion  of  the  Veto  being  just 
abandoned.  .  .  ." 

"  loth. 

"Well,  our  'very  small  and  early  party'  last  night 
[at  Lady  Sefton's]  was  quite  as  agreeable  as  ever; 
but  I  must  be  permitted  to  observe  that,  considering 
the  rigid  virtue  of  Lady  Sefton  and  the  profound 
darkness  in  which  her  daughters  of  from  30  to 
40  are  brought  up  as  to  even  the  existence  of  vice, 

*  Married  in  1830  to  the  7th  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  at  that  time 
Lord  Ashley. 


1829.]  A    PARTY   AT   LADY   SEFTON'S.  541 

the  party  was  as  little  calculated  to  protract  the 
delusion  of  these  innocents  as  any  collection  to  be 

made  in  London  could  well  be.    There  were  Mrs.  F- 

L and   Lord   Chesterfield,    who   came   together 

and  sat  together  all  night ;  Lady  E and  the  Pole 

or  Prussian  or  Austrian — whichever  he  is — whom  they 
call  'Cadland'  because  he  beat  the  Colonel  (Anson).* 
Anything  so  impudent  as  she,  or  so  barefaced  as  the 
whole  thing,  I  never  beheld ;  Princess  Esterhazy  and 

Lady ,  Lady and  [Lord]  Palmerston — in  short, 

by  far  the  most  notorious  and  profligate  women  in 
London.  .  .  .  With  respect  to  how  Lord  Grey  and  other 
people  take  the  Catholic  Bill  or  Pill,  there  is  an  in- 
creasing satisfaction  in  all  the  friends  to  the  measure, 
and  the  ranks  of  the  bigots  are  thinning.  There  is 
one  damned  thing,  if  it  is  persisted  in,  which  is  that 
O'Connell  is  not  to  be  let  into  his  present  seat,  but 
sent  back  to  a  new  election  under  the  new  Bill.  .  .  . 
When  I  was  at  Grey's  on  Sunday,  he  told  me  Burdett 
had  just  been  with  him  upon  this  subject,  and  had 
urged  him  to  speak  to  the  Duke  of  Wellington  about  it. 
Not  amiss  in  O'Connell  and  Burdett,  considering  that 
they  had  never  consulted  Grey  before  on  any  of  their 
Catholic  cookery.  However,  his  answer  was  that  he 
should  do  no  such  thing,  for  that,  altho'  there  could  be 
no  doubt  as  to  the  abominable  injustice  of  this  case,  3^et 
as  the  Duke  had  never  shown  any  disposition  to  com- 
municate with  him  upon  this  measure,  it  was  not  for 
him — Lord  Grey — to  begin  any  such  communication. 
So  much  for  Sefton  and  others,  who  will  have  it  that 
Lord  Grey  must  and  will  come  into  office.  .  .  . 
Wellington  was  blooded  yesterday,  but  is  out  to-day, 
and  gone  to  face  Winchilsea  in  the  Lords." 

"Siilby,  March  18. 

"  Rather  stiffish  to-day,  my  dear ;  it  can't,  of  course, 
be  age  !  but  going  four  and  twenty  miles  on  a  hard 
road  at  a  kind  of  hand  gallop  is  rather  shaking,  you 
know,  to  those  not  used  to  it.  .  .  .  The  men  we  have 
had  here  are  principally  Pytchley,  which,  in  dandyism, 
are  very  second-rate  to  the  Ouorn  or  Melton  men.  .  .  . 

*  The  Duke  of  Rutland's  "Cadland"  won  the  Derby  in  182S, 
beating  the  King's  horse  "  The  Colonel." 


542  THE    CREF:VEY    papers.  [Cm.  XXI. 

Osbaldeston  himself,  tho'  only  5  feet  high,  and  in 
features  like  a  cub  fox,  is  a  very  funny  little  chap  ; 
clever  in  his  way,  very  good-humored  and  gay,  and 
with  very  good  manners.  ...  I  am  very  fond  of  all 
these  lads  being  dressed  in  scarlet  in  the  evening.  It 
looks  so  gay." 

"  19th. 

".  .  .  Does  your  paper  ever  give  you  any  light 
upon  the  old  affair  of  Garth?  Did  it  contain  his 
affidavit?  You  see  it  is  now  established  in  proof  in 
a  suit  in  Chancery  that  Sir  Herbert  Taylor  had  agreed 
to  give  Garth  iJ"3000  a  year  for  his  life,  and  to  pay 
his  debts;  and  that,  upon  this  being  done,  certain 
letters  were  to  be  given  up  to  Taylor.  In  the  mean- 
time they  were  deposited  in  Snow's  bank  in  the  joint 
holding  of  the  said  bankers  and  Mr.  Westmacott,  the 
editor  of  the  Ajo-e  newspaper.  .  .  .  There  is  quite 
enough  in  this — Taylor  being  the  purchaser  and  the 
price  so  monstrous,  to  make  it  quite  certain  the  letters 
must  contain  great  scandal  affecting  very  great  parties. 
.  .  .  General  Garth  is  still  alive,  and  it  was  when  he 
was  extremely  ill  and  thought  himself  quite  sure  of 
dying,  that  he  wrote  to  young  Garth,  telling  him  who 
he  was,  explaining  the  part  he — the  General — had 
been  induced  to  act  out  of  respect  and  deference  to 
the  royal  family.  .  .  .  General  Garth  recovered  un- 
expectedl}',  and  applied  to  young  Garth  for  the  docu- 
ment ;  but,  I  thank  you !  they  had  been  seen  and  read 
and  deemed  much  too  valuable  to  be  given  back 
again." 

Eat'/  of  Seftoji  to  Mr.  Crecvey. 

"  Arlington  St.,  .  .  .  March  25th. 

".  .  .  The  King  was  delighted  with  the  duel  *  and 
said  he  should  have  done  the  same — that  gentlemen 
must  not  stand  upon  their  privileges.  .  .  ." 

"  Stoke,  nth  April. 

".  .  .  The  King  was  very  angry  at  the  large 
majorit}'  [for   the  "Catholic   Relief   Bill]  and  did   not 

*  Between  the  Duke  of  Wellint^ton  and  Lord  Winchilsea. 


1829.]  INTRIGUES    IN   THE   OPPOSITION.  543 

write  the  D.  a  line  in  answer  to  his  express  telling 
him  of  it.  The  Beau's  troubles  are  not  over  yet.  The 
distress  in  the  country  is  frightful.  Millions  are 
starving,  and  I  defy  him  to  do  anything  to  relieve 
them." 


Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Whitehall,  May  28th. 
"...  I  went  to  the  Park,  but  the  review  was  over, 
so  we  only  learnt  that  the  Beau  had  had  a  fall  from 
his  horse,  but  was  not  hurt ;  and  in  coming  home  here 
a  little  later  who  shd.  I  meet  riding  in  a  little  back 
street  near  Coventry  Street  but  the  said  Duke.  So 
he  stopt  and  shook  hands.  ...  I  said: — 'Well,  upon 
my  soul,  you  are  the  first  of  mankind  to  have  accom- 
plished this  Irish  job  as  you  have  done,  and  I  con- 
gratulate you  upon  it  most  sincerely.  .  .  .  You  must 
have  had  tough  work  to  get  thro'.' — *0h  terrible,  I 
assure  you,'  said  he,  and  so  we  parted." 

"June  1st. 
".  .  .  It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  Lord  Durham  is 
doing  all  he  possibly  can  to  make  Lord  Grey  act  a 
part  that  shall  force  him  into  the  Government,  meaning 
m  that  event  to  go  snacks  himself  in  the  acquisition  of 
power  and  profit ;  which,  considering  that  he  got  his 
peerage  by  deserting  Grey  and  by  helping  Canning  to 
defeat  Wellington,  is  consistent  and  modest  enough ! 
So  after  dinner  [at  Lord  William  Powlett's]  the  levee 
being  mentioned,  Grey  said  in  the  most  natural 
manner  he  would  never  go  to  another;  upon  which 
Lambton  [Lord  Durham]  remonstrated  with  him 
most  severely  and  pathetically,  and  George  Lamb 
thought  Grey  was  wrong ;  but  Grey  held  out  firm  as 
a  rock — said  that  it  was  quite  against  his  own  opinion 
going  the  last  time,  but  that  he  had  been  quite  perse- 
cuted into  it — that  this  last  personal  insult  from  the 
King  in  never  noticing  him  was  only  one  of  a  series 
of  the  same  kind,  and  that  for  the  future  he  should 
please  himself  by  avoiding  a  repetition  of  them.  You 
may  easily  fancy  the  amiability  of  Lambton's  face  at 
his  avowal.  .  .  .  You  see  these  impertinent  and  base 


544  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXI. 

renegade  young  Whigs  have  had  their  appetites  for 
office  if  possible  sharpened  at  present  by  Lord  Rosslyn 
having  just  accepted  the  Privy  Seal.  .  .  .  Rosslyn  told 
me  of  it  himself  in  the  street  on  Saturday.  .  .  .  I  know 
that  he  accepted  with  Lord  Grey's  concurrence,  but  I 
am  equally  sure,  from  Lord  Grey's  manner,  that  he 
thinks  he  ought  not  to  have  done  so." 

"August  2oth. 

".  .  .  As  you  see  only  the  Morning  Post,  I  am 
afraid  you  are  quite  in  the  dark  as  to  vvhat  is  going 
on  in  France.  .  .  .  All  are  furious  against  the  new 
Ministry,  and  with  great  reason.  To  think  of  making 
Bourmont  the  War  Minister!  He  is  the  man  who 
deserted  from  Bonaparte  and  came  over  to  us  the 
night  before  the  battle  of  Waterloo.*  General  Gerard 
recommended  him  to  Nap  as  a  General  of  Division  on 
that  occasion,  and  said  that  he  would  pledge  his  life  for 
his  /io}ior.-\  The  deserter  is  now  to  be  Minister  for 
War,  and  will  have  to  face  Gerard  as  a  member  of  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies !  .  .  .  Even  the  old  Ultras  think 
the  experiment  puts  the  throne  of  Charles  Dix  in 
danger," 

"  Knowsley,  26th  September. 
"...  I  am  half  way  thro'  the  3rd  volume  of 
Bourrienne.  Although  my  interest  about  Nap  is 
greatly  lessened  by  his  wholesale  use  and  destruction 
of  mankind — not  for  the  sake  or  defence  of  France, 
but  for  some  'lark'  of  his  own,  to  be  like  Caesar  or 
Alexander,  and  for  his  damned  nonsensical  posterity 
that  he  is  always  after — then  again  he  comes  over  me 
again  by  his  talents,  and  by  a  kind  of  simplicity,  and 
even  drollery,  behind  the  curtain  whilst  he  is  so 
successfully  bamboozling  all  the  world  without.  Don't 
suppose  I  am  partial  to  him  because  when  Bourrienne 

*  It  was  on  the  morning  of  the  15th  June,  three  days  before 
Waterloo,  that  Bourmont  deserted  ;  and  he  went  to  Bliicher,  not  to 
Wellington. 

t  The  expression  Gerard  used  was  that  he  would  pledge  his  head: 
so  when  Gdrard  reported  Bourmont's  treachery,  the  Emperor  tapped 
G(^rard  playfully  on  the  cheek,  saying :—"  Cette  tete,  done,  c'est  ^  moi, 
n'est  ce  pas  ? "  adding  more  gravely,  "  mais  j'en  ai  trop  besoin." 


1829.]  FIRST  TRIP   ON   THE   RAILWAY.  545 

read  poetry  to  him  in  Egypt  he  always  fell  asleep ! 
or  because  that  at  school  he  never  was  a  scholar, 
Bourrienne  beating  him  easily  in  Latin  and  Greek, 
but  in  mathematics  he  was  first :  nor  because  no  one 
spelt  worse  than  he  did,  having  always  a  professed 
contempt  for  that  noble  art.  Yet  his  compositions 
are  of  the  first  order." 

The  Liverpool  and  Manchester  Railway,  the  pro- 
motion of  which  Creevey  had  so  stoutly  opposed  in 
committee  of  the  House  of  Commons,  was  nearly 
finished,  and  about  to  be  opened  for  traffic. 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Knowsley,  Nov.  1st,  1829. 
".  .  .  You  have  no  doubt  in  your  paper  reports  of 
Huskisson's  return  to  office.  Allow  me  to  mention  a 
passage  which  Lord  Derby  read  to  me  out  of  a  letter 
to  himself  from  Lady  Jane  Houston,  who  lives  very 
near  Huskisson.  .  .  .  '  Houston  saw  Huskisson  yester- 
day, who  talked  to  him  of  his  return  to  office  as  of  a 
thing  quite  certain,  and  of  Edward  Stanley  doing  so 
too.  Indeed  he  spoke  of  the  latter  as  quite  the  Hope 
of  the  Nation!'  As  the  Hope  of  the  Nation  was 
present  when  this  was  read,  it  would  not  have  been 
decent  to  laugh  ;  but  the  little  Earl  gave  me  a  look 
that  was  quite  enough." 

"  Croxteth,  7th. 
"...  I  left  little  Derby  devouring  Bourrienne  with 
the  greatest  delight,  and  he  is  particularly  pleased 
with  the  exposure  of  the  ignorance  of '  that  damned 
fellow  Sir  Walter  Scott'  The  Stanley  and  Hornby 
party  were  rather  shocked  at  the  great  bard  and 
novelist  being  called  such  names,  but  the  peer  said 
he  was  a  'damned  impertinent  fellow  '  for  presuming 
to  write  the  life  of  Bonaparte." 

"  14th. 
".  .  .  To-day  we  have  had  a  lark  of  a  very  high 
order.    Lady  Wilton  sent  over  yesterday  from  Knows- 
ley to  say  that  the   Loco  Motive  machine  was  to  be 


546  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXI. 

upon  the  railway  at  such  a  place  at  12  o'clock  for  the 
Knowsley  part}^  to  ride  in  if  the}'  liked,  and  inviting 
this  house  to  be  of  the  party.  So  of  course  we  were 
at  our  post  in  3  carriages  and  some  horsemen  at  the 
hour  appointed.  I  had  the  satisfaction,  for  I  can't  call 
it  pleasure,  of  taking  a  trip  of  five  miles  in  it,  which  we 
did  in  just  a  quarter  of  an  hour — that  is,  20  miles  an 
hour.  As  accuracy  upon  this  subject  was  my  great 
object,  I  held  my  watch  in  my  hand  at  starting,  and 
all  the  time;  and  as  it  has  a  second  hand,  I  knew  I 
could  not  be  deceived ;  and  it  so  turned  out  there  was 
not  the  difference  of  a  second  between  the  coachee  or 
conductor  and  myself  But  observe,  during  these  five 
miles,  the  machine  was  occasionally  made  to  put  itself 
out  or  go  it ;  and  then  we  went  at  the  rate  of  23  miles 
an  hour,  and  just  with  the  same  ease  as  to  motion  or 
absence  of  friction  as  the  other  reduced  pace.  But 
the  quickest  motion  is  to  me  frightful :  it  is  really 
flying,  and  it  is  impossible  to  divest  yourself  of  the 
notion  of  instant  death  to  all  upon  the  least  accident 
happening.  It  gave  me  a  headache  which  has  not 
left  me  yet.  Sefton  is  convinced  that  some  damnable 
thing  must  come  of  it ;  but  he  and  I  seem  more  struck 
with  such  apprehension  than  others.  ,  .  .  The  smoke 
is  very  inconsiderable  indeed,  but  sparks  of  fire  are 
abroad  in  some  quantity  :  one  burnt  Miss  de  Ros's 
cheek,  another  a  hole  in  Lady  Maria's  silk  pelisse, 
and  a  third  a  hole  in  some  one  else's  gown.  Alto- 
gether I  am  extremely  glad  indeed  to  have  seen  this 
miracle,  and  to  have  travelled  in  it.  Had  I  thought 
worse  of  it  than  I  do,  I  should  have  had  the  curiosity 
to  try  it ;  but,  having  done  so,  I  am  quite  satisfied 
with  vay  first  achievement  being  my  last^ 

"Croxteth,  Nov.  i8th. 

"...  I  am  sure  you  would  not  wish  me  to  miss 
Lady  Foley.  It  is  very  nearly  the  direct  road  to 
London.  Then  to  see  a  noble  novel-writer,  who  has 
never  been  known  in  the  midst  of  all  their  ruin  to 
degrade  herself  by  putting  on  either  a  pair  of  gloves 
or  a  ribbon  a  second  time,  and  who  has  always  4  ponies 
ready  saddled  and  bridled  for  any  enterprise  or 
excursion    that   may   come   into   her   head !     To   say 


iS2C).]  A    SPENDTHRIFT    PEER.  547 

nothing  of  Foley,  who,  without  a  halfp'orth  of  income 
keeps  the  best  house  and  has  planted  more  oak  trees 
than  any  man  in  England,  and  by  the  influence  of  his 
name  and  popularity  returns  two  members  for  Droit- 
wich  and  one  for  the  county.  Then  he  is  to  get  his 
next  neighbour  Lord  Dudley  to  meet  me,  so  we  shall 
have  Jean  qui  plcuvc  ct  Jean  qui  rit — Ward  [Lord 
Dudley]  being  in  a  state  of  lingering  existence  under 
the  frightful  pressure  of  ^120,000  a  year." 


(     548     ) 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

1830-1831. 

Mr.  Creevey's  correspondence  during  1830  contains 
less  of  permanent  interest  than  usual.  It  was  an 
eventful  year,  for  it  witnessed  the  downfall  of  the 
Tory  administration,  the  death  of  George  IV.,  and 
the  opening  of  the  far-reaching  drama  of  Reform. 
Brougham  had  busied  himself  for  some  time  in  pro- 
moting the  Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Useful  Know- 
ledge, and  acted  as  joint  editor  of  its  publications. 


Henry  Brougham,  M.P.,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"Hill  St.  [1830]. 

"...  I  have  sent  for  yourself  the  Library  of  Useful 
Knowledge,  as  far  as  published  :  with  the  Farmers' 
Series  and  Maps.  The  Entertaining  Knowledge  Library 
is  for  the  younkers  (tho'  good  and  wholesome  for  all 
ages).  ...  I  believe  we  begin  with  15,000  and  print 
to  above  20,000.  Now  pray,  if  any  subject  falling  in 
with  our  plans  occurs  to  you,  suggest  it.  You  will  do 
us  a  real  service.  We  profess  to  be  able  to  prepare 
and  put  in  circulation  to  a  vast  extent  any  work  of 
useful  tendency  and  sound  principles.  Of  course  we 
avoid  direct  part  in  Church  and  State,  but  we  openly 
profess  to  preach  peace,  liberty  and  absolute  toleration, 
and  I  take  care,  as  the  works  pass  through  my  hands, 
to  keep  out  all  that  is  against  these  principles,  and  to 
put  in  authoritatively  what  is  wanting  upon  them.  .  .  ." 


1830-31.]     BROUGHAM'S   LITERARY   SCHEMES.  549 

"Brougham,  1830. 

".  .  .  Our  Lib.  U.  K.  will  get  less  abstruse  now  that 
the  Mathematical  subjects  are  all  gone  thro',  except 
Astronomy.  But  some  of  the  treatises  are  extremely 
plain,  and  indeed  entertaining,  notwithstanding  their 
titles  have  hard  names — as  for  instance  'Animal 
Physiology ' — which  really  teaches  anatomy  to  any- 
one who  wishes  to  understand  it,  and  never  knew  a 
word  of  it  before.  So  the  life  of  Galileo  is  very 
interesting,  and  that  of  Caxton.  But  one  fault  that 
series  has  which  is  quite  incurable,  as  long  as  the  tax 
on  paper  continues.  I  mean  the  small  print.  The 
undertaking  was,  to  give  for  sixpence  as  much  as  is 
usually  to  be  found  in  an  octavo  vol.  of  above  100 
pages.  If  the  tax  on  paper  were  repealed,  I  have  no 
doubt  we  could  give  48  pages  instead  of  32  for  that 
price,  and  the  print  would  be  as  easy  to  read  as  any 
needs  to  be. 

"  When  I  wrote  last,  I  had  been  speaking  for  more 
than  five  hours  on  the  intellectual  state  of  a  worthy  tea- 
dealer,  so  I  may  have  omitted  a  request  I  intended  to 
make  to  you  and  the  ladies — viz.,  to  suggest  subjects  for 
books,  if  any  occur,  especially  for  the  Entertaining 
Series.  The  other  must  take  a  regular  course,  but 
this  is  naturally  without  rule.  Also,  any  book  want- 
ing for  the  common  people  in  the  country  (which  is 
another  part  of  our  plans). 

"  I  shall  take  care  about  Bourrienne  *  next  week 
when  I  return.  I  am  anxious  for  its  appearance  my- 
self, having  read  the  other  vols,  with  detestation — 
scorn  of  the  villain  ;  but  I  must  say  as  you  do — with- 
out much  disbelief,  which  I  was  sorry  for.  .  .  ." 

Less  meritorious  in  Creevey's  eyes  were 
Brougham's  proceedings  in  Parliament ;  and  he  is 
vociferous  in  complaint  about  his  "perfidy,"  &c.  But 
Brougham  was  not  the  only  one  of  his  old  "  com- 
rogues,"  as  he  called  them,  who  were  behaving 
"  basely."    Lord  Cleveland,  formerly  Lord  Darlington, 

*  Life  of  Napoleon. 


550  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXII. 

declined  to  provide  a  seat  for  Creevey  in  Parliament, 
notwithstanding  that  he  had  received,  or  thought  he 
had  received,  Lady  Cleveland's  pledge  for  the  first 
vacancy. 

Henry  Broiighani,  M.P.,  io  Mr.  Creevey. 

"1830. 
"  Well — what  do  you  say  of  the  first  day  ?  Are 
you  of  those  lunaticks  who  are  angry  that  we  did  not 
go  ding-dong  at  the  Beau  and  turn  his  Govt,  out  ? 
That  is — displace  him  without  an  idea  who  would  get 
in  ;  or,  in  other  words,  put  things  in  a  state  from 
which  nobody  but  the  Tories  and  King  could  have 
profited.  I  am  clear  that  the  said  Beau  cannot  go  on 
as  he  is.  They  can't  get  people  to  vote,  and  there  is 
a  tendency  of  other  people  to  join  in  voting  against 
them.  .  .  .  Have  you  heard  of  G.  Spencer*  giving  up 
his  livings  and  turning  R.  Cath.  ?  He  wanted  to 
convert  an  able  priest,  and  it  ended  t'other  way.  Ld. 
Lansdowne  brings  in  young  Macaulay,  which  may  be 
all  very  well  as  far  as  he  is  concerned,  but  it  gives  all 
of  us  who  are  Denman's  friends  serious  annoyance 
and  regret.  I  suppose  it  is  only  as  a  locum  tcncus 
till  Kerry  t  comes  of  age  ;  but  still,  D.  could  have  held 
it  as  well  as  another." 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"London,  Feby.  i6th,  1S30 
".  .  .  In  the  jaw  between  Mrs.  Taylor  and  me  this 
morning  she  observed  what  a  low,  dirty  fellow 
Lord  Cleveland  was  not  to  offer  me  the  seat  after  all 
that  had  passed;  'Not  that  you  would  have  accepted 
it,'  said  she,  '  I  feel  sure  of  that ;  but  as  a  gentleman 
he  was  bound  to  offer  it  to  you.'  The  Marchioness, 
it  seems,  has  been  here,  and  expressed  the  united  rage 

*  The  Hon.  and  Very  Rev.  George  Spencer,  4th  son  of  the  2nd 
Earl  Spencer  :  became  Superior  of  the  Order  of  Passionists,  and  died 
in  1864. 

t  Lord  Lansdowne's  eldest  son. 


1830-31.]  LORD    DOURO'S    ENGAGEMENT.  55 1 

of  the  Naffy  *  and  herself  at  Brougham's  conduct.  .  .  . 
Mrs,  Taylor  sa^^s  that,  being  determined  to  bring  my 
name  in,  she  observed  I  was  coming  to  town  to  see 
her,  and  she  was  sure  I  should  do  her  more  good  than 
all  the  doctors  ;  but  the  Pop  was  mum,  and  would  not 
touch  it;  and,  as  Mrs.  Taylor  justly  observes,  they 
are  two  arrogant  rogues,  and  not  worth  thinking 
about." 

'■'  19th. 

".  .  .  In  Arlington  Street  I  found  tw^o  young 
Foley  lads — the  eldest  the  poor  victim  just  come  of 
age,  and  a  nicer  and  more  produceable  young  man  I 
never  saw.  Lady  Sefton  and  1  deplored  his  hard  fate 
extremely.  It  is  supposed  the  deed  is  done — that  is, 
cutting  off  the  entail  of  the  last  remnant  of  the  Foley 
property,  so  that  his  father  and  mother  may  see  it  all 
fairly  out.  Lady  Sefton  told  me  that  Lady  Foley  t 
had  ten  new  gowns  for  the  party  at  Witley  at  Xmas, 
and  that  the  only  one  that  Lady  Sefton  saw  must 
have  cost  12  guineas.  She  has  only  5  maids,  with 
different  occupations,  for  herself,  ,  ,  .  I  never  saw 
Lord  Douro  |  before.  His  teeth  are  the  only  feature 
in  which  he  resembles  his  father,  and  altogether  he  is 
very  homely  in  his  air.  Do  you  know  he  is  engaged 
to  be  married  to  a  daughter  of  Hume,  the  Duke's 
doctor.  It  seems  she  has  stayed  a  good  deal  with  the 
Duchess,  which  has  led  to  the  youth  proposing  to  her. 
When  it  was  told  to  the  Duke,  all  he  said  was — 'Ah ! 
rather  young,  Douro,  are  you  not — to  be  married  ? 
Suppose  you  stay  till  the  year  is  out,  and  if  then  you 
are  in  the  same  mind,  it's  all  very  well,'  " 

"  March  nth. 

".  ,  .  I  was  at  Lord  Holland's  yesterday,  .  ,  ,  They 
both  looked  very  ill.  They  are  evidently  most  sorely 
pinched— he  in  his  land,  and  she  still  more  in  her 
sugar  and  rum.  So  when  I  gave  it  as  my  opinion 
that,  if  things  went  on  as  they  did,  paper  must  ooze 

*  The  Marquess  of  Clevehind,  formerly  Earl  of  Darlington. 

+  Lady  Cecilia  Fitzgerald,  daughter  of  the  2nd  Duke  of  Leinstcr. 

+  Elder  son  of  the  Duke  of  Wellinf^ton, 

2    P 


552  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXII. 

out  again  by  connivance  or  otherwise,  she  said  she 
wished  to  God  the  time  was  come,  or  anything  else  to 
save  them.  He  said  he  never  would  consent  to  the 
return  of  paper,  but  he  thought  the  standard  might  be 
altered  :  i.e.,  a  sovereign  to  be  made  by  law  worth  one 
or  two  or  three  and  twenty  shillings." 

" 22nd. 

"...  A  capital  party  at  old  Salisbury's  *  last  night 
— the  best  I  ever  saw  there.  I  had  a  good  deal  of 
laugh  and  jaw  with  the  Beau,  who  was  in  tip-top 
spirits  and  looked  better  in  the  face  than  I  ever  saw 
him.  .  .  .  Arthur  Hill  said  to  him  : — '  Creevey  is  going 
to  bring  his  pretty  nieces  here  next  Thursday.' — '  Oh,' 
said  the  Beau,  '  the  Miss  Brandlings  :  I  saw  them  at 
Doncaster.  I  think  they  are  the  prettiest  girls  I  ever 
saw.' " 

"  Bansted,  May  26th, 

",  .  .  Sefton  went  down  to  the  House  to  hear  the 
two  Royal  Messages  which  it  was  known  were 
coming — one  to  enable  some  one  to  sign  poor 
Prinney's  name  for  him,t  and  the  other  to  shew  up 
Leopold  for  having  jibbed  at  last  as  to  taking  Greece 
upon  himself  To  be  sure,  this  jib  of  his  has  not  been 
brought  about  by  the  King's  illness !  I  suppose 
Mrs.  Kent  thinks  her  daughter's  reign  is  coming  on 
apace,  and  that  her  brother  may  be  of  use  to  her  as 
versus  Cumberland.  .  .  .  We  were  all  on  the  course 
at  Epsom  yesterday  and  saw  poor  Prinney's  horse 
'The  Colonel'  win  the  Craven  Stakes.  If  'Captain 
Arthur '  should  win  [the  Derby]  next  Thursday,  all 
Lord  Sefton  would  pocket  in  bets  and  stakes  would 
be  ;!^ 1 2, 500— that's  all! J  Gully  is  quite  sure  his 
horse  Red  Rover  will  win ;  §  Chifney  equally  sure 
that  Priam  will,||  notwithstanding  that  Lord  Ranelagh 
says  he  trusts  in  God  that /ieat/ie7i god  Priam  can  never 
win." 

*  The  Dowager  Marchioness  of  Salisbury. 

t  George  IV.  was  lying  in  his  last  illness. 

t  Captain  Arthur  started  at  15  to  i,  and  was  not  placed. 

§  It  ran  second,  starting  at  5  to  i. 

II  The  favourite,  Priam,  won. 


1830-31.]  DEATH    OF    GEORGE    IV.  553 

"  London,  31st. 

".  .  .  To  call  on  Lady  Grey,  whom  I  found  alone. 
She  is  all  against  Lord  Grey  becoming  a  politician 
again,  and  says  she  sees  people  getting  round  him 
whom  she  hates,  and  never  can  forgive  for  their  past 
conduct  to  him,  and  whose  only  object  now  is  to 
use  him  for  their  own  interests.  She  mentioned 
Brougham  in  particular.  .  .  ." 

"Stoke, June  nth. 

".  .  .  Seftonsaw  yesterday  in  Windsor  O'Reilly  the 
King's  apothecary.  It  had  been  his  turn  to  sit  up  with 
him  the  preceding  night,  and  he  said  his  sufferings 
were  extreme — that  he  might  die  any  moment  from 
his  complaint,  but  that  even  from  exhaustion,  strong 
as  he  is,  he  must  die  in  five  or  six  days.  He  said  to 
O'Reilly  more  than  once : — '  I  am  going  gradually.' 
He  is  cheerful  at  times,  and  very  fond  of  talking  about 
horses.  O'Reilly  says  that,  in  the  course  of  his  life, 
he  never  saw  such  strength,  and  that  with  common 
prudence  he  might  have  lived  to  a  hundred." 

*'  Brooks's,  June  26th. 

".  .  .  So  poor  Prinney  is  really  dead — on  a 
Saturday  too,  as  was  foretold.  ...  I  have  just  met 
our  great  Privy  Councillors  coming  from  the  Palace 
(Warrender  and  Bob  Adair  included).  I  learnt  from 
the  former  that  the  only  observation  he  heard  from 
the  Sovereign  was  upon  his  going  to  write  his  name 
on  parchment,  when  he  said: — 'You  have  damned 
bad  pens  here ! '  *  Here  is  Tankerville,  who  was  at  the 
Palace  likewise.  He  says  the  difference  in  manner 
between  the  late  and  present  sovereign  upon  the 
occasion  of  swearing  in  the  Privy  Council  was  very 
striking.  Poor  Prinney  put  on  a  dramatic,  royal, 
distant  dignity  to  all ;  Billy,  who  in  addition  to  living 
out  of  the  world,  has  become  rather  blind,  was  doing 
his  best  in  a  very  natural  way  to  make  out  the  face  of 
every  Privy  Councillor  as  each  kneeled  down  to  kiss 
his  hand.     In  Tankervillc's   own  case,  Billy  put  one 

*  Greville  (ii.  3)  and  Croker  (ii.  66)  relate  the  same  incident. 


554  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXII. 

hand  above  his  eyes  and  at  last  said  in  a  most  famihar 
tone  : — '  Oh,  Lord  Tankerville,  is  it  you  ?  I  am  very 
glad  to  see  you.  How  d'ye  do?'  It  seemed  quite  a 
restraint  to  him  not  to  shake  hands  with  people.  He 
said  to  Mr.  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer — the  cock- 
eyed Goulbourne — '  D'ye  know  I'm  grown  so  near- 
sighted that  I  can't  make  out  who  you  are.  You 
must  tell  me  your  name,  if  you  please.'  He  read  his 
declaration  to  the  Council,  which  is  said  to  be  very 
favorable  to  the  present  Ministry ;  and  it  would  be 
odd  if  it  was  not,  as  it  was  drawn  up  by  the  Beau. 
After  reading  this  production  of  the  Government,  he 
treated  the  Council  with  a  little  impromptu  of  his 
own,  and  great  was  the  fear  of  Wellington,  as  the}^ 
say  visibly  expressed  on  his  face,  least  Billy  should 
take  too  excursive  a  view  of  things ;  instead  of  which 
it  was  merely  a  little  natural  and  pretty  funeral 
oration  over  Prinney,  who,  he  said,  had  always  been 
the  best  and  most  affectionate  of  brothers." 


"  Stoke,  August  20th. 

"...  I  said  to  Lady  Sefton  just  now — '  Where  and 
when  was  it,  Lady  Sefton,  that  you  knew  the  King 
[William]  so  well?' — 'Why,  Mr.  Creevey,'  says  she, 
*  I'm  sure  you  will  not  accuse  me  of  vanity  when  I  tell 
you  that,  upon  my  first  coming  out,*  he  was  pleased  to 
be  very  much  in  love  with  me,  or  to  say  he  was  so  ; 
and  my  father  became  so  frightened  about  it  that  he 
would  not  let  me  go  where  he  was  likely  to  be  ;  for 
it  was  at  the  time  the  Prince  of  Wales  was  living  with 
Mrs.  Fitzherbert.  He  contrived,  however,  to  send 
me  a  nosegay  {illegible']  from  Kew,  and  to  get  me 
invited  to  all  the  gayest  and  finest  balls  and  parties 
then  going  ;  and  as  I  knew  no  one  to  begin  with,  you 
may  suppose  how  charming  it  was.  What  his  object 
was,  I  am  sure  I  don't  know :  my  only  one  was  to  go 
wherever  I  was  invited,  and  to  enjoy  my  liberty  and 
fun.  However,  he  went  soon  after  to  sea,  I  believe  ; 
and  not  long  after  I  was  married,  and  I  have  scarcely 
seen  him  since.  .  .  .' " 

*  As  the  Hon.  Maria  Craven,  daiiohtcr  of  the  6th  Lord  Craven. 


1S30-31.]  DEATH    OF   HUSKISSON.  555 


"Bangor,  Sept.  19th. 

".  .  .  Jack  Calcraft  has  been  at  the  opening  of  the 
Liverpool  railroad,  and  was  an  eye-witness  of  Huskis- 
son's  horrible  death.*  About  nine  or  ten  of  the  pas- 
sengers in  the  Duke's  car  had  got  out  to  look  about 
them,  whilst  the  car  stopt.  Calcraft  was  one,  Huskis- 
son  another,  Esterhazy,  Billy  Holmes,  Birch  and 
others.  When  the  other  locomotive  was  seen  coming 
up  to  pass  them,  there  was  a  general  shout  from  those 
within  the  Duke's  car  to  those  without  it,  to  get  in. 
Both  Holmes  and  Birch  were  unable  to  get  up  in 
time,  but  they  stuck  fast  to  its  sides,  and  the  other 
engine  did  not  touch  them.  Esterhazy,  being  light, 
was  pulled  in  by  force.  Huskisson  was  feeble  in  his 
legs,  and  appears  to  have  lost  his  head,  as  he  did  his 
life.  Calcraft  tells  me  that  Huskisson's  long  con- 
finement in  St.  George's  Chapel  at  the  King's  funeral 
brought  on  a  complaint  that  Taylor  is  so  afraid  of, 
and  that  made  some  severe  surgical  operation  neces- 
sary, the  effect  of  which  had  been,  according  to  what 
he  told  Calcraft,  to  paralyse,  as  it  were,  one  leg  and 
thigh.  This,  no  doubt,  must  have  increased,  if  it  did 
not  create,  his  danger  and  [caused  him  to]  lose  his 
life.  He  had  written  to  say  his  health  would  not  let 
him  come,  and  his  arrival  was  unexpected.  Calcraft 
saw  the  meeting  between  him  and  the  Duke  [of  Wel- 
lington], and  saw  them  shake  hands  a  very  short 
time  before  Huskisson's  death.  The  latter  event  must 
be  followed  by  important  political  consequences.  The 
Canning  faction  has  lost  its  corner  stone,  and  the 
Duke's  Government  one  of  its  most  formidable 
opponents.  Huskisson,  too,  once  out  of  the  way, 
Palmerston,  Melbourne,  the  Grants,  &c.,  may  make  it 
up  with  the  Beau." 

"  The  dear  Plough,  Cheltenham,  Oct.  5th. 

".  .  .  Well,  here  we  are  again,  driven  from  that 
greatest  of  all  humbugs,  Leamington.  The  fame  of 
the  latter  place  is  one  of  the  many  proofs  to  what  an 

*  Mr.  Huskisson,  who  probably  had  not  met  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton since  the  Cabinet  crisis  caused  by  the  resignation  of  the  former, 
had  left  his  car  on  purpose  to  shake  hands  with  tlie  Duke. 


55^  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Cn.  XXII. 

extent  the  folly  of  English  people  will  club  and  sup- 
port a  thing ;  till  by  common  consent  it  disappears, 
which  some  day  or  other  this  Leamington  will  do. 
The  town  is  a  half-built  skeleton  of  a  concern,  and  in 
point  of  population  and  convenience  of  all  kinds,  a 
perfect  desert  compared  with  this." 


Earl  of  Sefton  to  Mr.  Creevcy. 

"Oct.,  1830. 

"...  I  suppose  you  have  heard  of  Lord  Chester- 
field's marriage  to  Anne  Forester.*  Charles  Greville 
went  express  to  London  from  Heaton  (Wilton's)  to 
break  it  to  Mrs.  Fox  Lane.  George  Anson  marries 
Isabella:!  money  no  object.  .  .  .  I  don't  believe  there 
will  be  a  king  in  Europe  in  2  years'  time,  or  that 
property  of  any  kind  is  worth  5  years'  purchase.  .  .  ." 

"  Thursday,  Nov,  18th,  1830. 

".  .  .  Everything  except  the  Brougham  business 
going  on  smoothly.  That  is,  I  assure  you,  very  diffi- 
cult, but  must  end  in  the  Rolls.  He  is  really  in  a 
state  of  insanity,  complains  to  everybody  that  he  is 
neglected  and  threatens  to  put  an  extinguisher  on  the 
new  Govt,  in  a  month.  In  the  meantime  he  keeps 
swearing  he  will  not  take  anything — that  he  ought  to 
be  offered  the  Seals,  tho'  he  wd.  kick  them  out  of  the 
window  rather  than  desert  his  Yorkshire  friends  by 
taking  a  peerage.  All  this,  however,  will  subside  in 
the  Rolls,  where,  being  lodged  for  life  and  quite 
beyond  controul,  I  don't  envy  the  Govt,  with  such  a 
chap  ready  to  pounce  upon  them  unexpectedly." 

"  Friday,  19th. 

"  By  God !  Brougham  is  Chancellor.  It  is  sup- 
posed he  will  be  safer  there,  because,  if  he  don't 
behave  well,  he  will  be  turned  out  at  a  moment's 
notice,  and  he  is  then  powerless.  What  a  flattering 
reason  for  appointing  him !  .  .  .  Grey  speaks   most 

*  Eldest  daughter  of  the  istLord  Forester:  died  1885. 
t  Third  dau^^hter  of  the  same. 


1830-31.]         LORD   GREY'S   ADMINISTRATION.  557 

kindly  of  you,  and  I  am  sure  wd.  be  delighted  to 
do  something  for  you  ;  but  why  the  devil  do  you  put 
yourself  out  of  the  way  of  everything?" 

Upon  Lord  Grey  taking  office  in  November,  1830, 
he  appointed  his  old  friend  Creevey  to  the  office  of 
Treasurer  of  the  Ordnance,  at  a  salary  of  ^^1200 
a  year.  Ever  since  his  wife's  death,  Mr.  Creevey  had 
existed  upon  a  very  slender  income — "i^2oo  a  year 
or  less,"  as  Charles  Greville  says  * — but  he  was  the 
constant  and  welcome  guest  of  the  Seftons,  the 
Taylors,  and  a  host  of  other  friends,  and  had  few 
expenses  to  meet  except  for  his  clothes  and  travelling. 
Still,  this  permanent  office  must  have  come  as  a  trans- 
lation from  penury  to  affluence.  The  Whigs,  even 
purified  as  they  had  been  by  long  years  of  opposition 
and  the  persistent  efforts  of  Brougham,  Creevey,  and 
other  reformers  to  put  an  end  to  jobbery,  showed 
themselves  far  from  diffident  in  the  exercise  of  patron- 
age. At  the  present  day,  when  sixty  has  been  fixed 
as  the  age  for  retiring  from  the  Civil  Service,  it  may 
seem  an  abuse  of  patronage  to  have  invited  a  gentle- 
man of  sixty-two  to  enter  it ;  but,  according  to  the 
practice  of  pre-Reform  times,  nothing  could  be  thought 
more  natural.  The  Ordnance  Office  was  established 
in  the  Tower  of  London,  and  Creevey's  letters  express 
quite  a  boyish  delight  in  his  new  quarters,  and  a  naive 
wonder  at  the  minuteness  of  the  Ordnance  survey 
maps  then  being  engraved  for  the  first  time. 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  The  Tower,  Jan.  31st,  1S31. 

"...  I  dined  in  Downing  Street  with  Lady  Grey 
.  .  .  After  dinner  the  private  secretary  to  the  Prime 

'  Greville  Memoirs,  i.  235. 


55S  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXII. 

Minister  and  myself  being  alone,  I  ascertained  that, 
altho'  Lord  Grey  was  gone  to  Brighton  ostensibly  to 
prick  for  Sheriffs  for  the  year,  his  great  object  was  to 
lay  his  plan  of  rcforui  before  the  King,  previous  (if  he 
approves)  to  its  being  proposed  to  the  House  of 
Commons.  A  ticklish  operation,  this  !  to  propose  to 
a  Sovereign  a  plan  for  reducing  his  own  power  and 
patronage.  However,  there  is  the  plan  all  cut  and 
dr}^,  and  the  Cabinet  unanimous  upon  the  subject.  .  .  . 
Billy  has  been  in  perfect  ecstacies  with  his  Govern- 
ment ever  since  they  arrested  O'Connell.  Wood  says 
if  the  King  gives  his  Government  his  real  support 
upon  this  Reform  question,  without  the  slightest  ap- 
pearance of  a  jib,  Grey  is  determined  to  fight  it  out 
to  a  dissolution  of  Parliament,  if  his  plan  is  beat  in 
the  Commons.     My  eye,  what  a  crisis  !  " 

"  Feb.  4th. 
".  .  .  Grey  says  the  King's  conduct  was  perfect— 
not  in  giving  an  unqualified  assent,  as  a  constitutional 
King  might  to  any  Minister  who  happened  to  be  so 
at  the  time ;  but  he  bestowed  much  time  and  thought 
in  going  over  every  part  of  the  plan,  examined  its 
bearings,  asked  most  sensible  questions,  and,  being 
quite  satisfied  with  everything  Grey  urged  in  its 
support,  pledged  himself  irrevocably  "to  do  the  same. 
.  ._ .  Grey  said,  too,  the  Queen  was  evidently  better  \v\\h 
him.  It  seems  that  her  manners  to  him  at  first  were 
distant  and  reserved,  so  that  he  could  not  avoid  con- 
cluding that  the  change  of  Government  was  a  subject 
of  regret  to  her.  This  was  an  appalling  reflection 
for  a  reforming  minister,  but  he  satisfied  himself  that 
she  has  no  influence  over  the  King,  and  that,  in  fact, 
he  never  even  mentions  politicks  to  her,  much  less 
consults  her — that  her  influence  over  him  as  to  his 
manners  has  been  very  ^reat  and  highly  beneficial, 
but  there  it  stops.  .  .  .  Well,  you  see  the  Govern- 
ment lost  no  time  last  night  in  giving  their  notices — 
Vaux*  to  reform  the  Court  of  Chancery — Melbourne 
to  make  new  laws  in  favor  of  Ireland,  and  Althorp 

*  Brougham,  as  Lord  Chancellor,  had  entered  the  House  of  Lords 
as  Lord  Brougham  and  Vaux,  which  gave  his  enemies  the  opportunity 
of  declaring  that  he  ought  to  have  been  "  Vaux  et  prceterea  nihil." 


EARF,   GRI:Y. 


{To  face  p.  558. 


1830-31.]        A   PARTY   IN   DOWNING  STREET.  559 

his  plan  of  reform,  to  be  carried  by  Lord  J.  Russell. 
Anything  like  such  fair  and  open  downright  dealing 
was  never  known  in  Parliament  before.  .  .  . 

"  Sefton  had  a  good  conversation  with  Lady  Grey, 
and  my  lord  too,  last  night.  It  seems  the  Dino  *  came 
there  from  Leach's,  and  Sefton  heard  her  entreating 
Lady  Grey  to  use  her  influence  with  Lady  Durham 
to  let  her  boy,  and  I  believe  a  little  girl,  to  come  to  a 
child's  ball  at  the  Dino's  on  Monday  next.  So  w^hen 
Lord  Grey  was  handing  the  Dino  to  her  carriage, 
Sefton  and  Lady  Grey  being  left  alone,  the  latter 
said  to  him  : — '  Was  there  ever  anything  like  the  ab- 
surdities of  Lambton  ?  He  not  only  won't  be  intro- 
duced to  Mons.  Talleyrand  and  Madame  de  Dino, 
but  he  chooses  to  be  as  rude  as  possible  to  them 
whenever  he  meets  them.' — 'Good  God  ! '  said  Sefton, 
'what  can  that  possibly  mean?' — 'Why  because  he 
chooses  to  be  affronted  that  they  did  not  ask  to  be 
introduced  to  him  before  he  zvas  in  oJfice,t  and  now  that 
he  is  so,  he  insists  upon  Louisa  1:  having  nothing  to 
do  with  Madame  de  Dino.  Just  as  Lady  Gre}'  was 
iinishing.  Grey  returned,  and  she  said — '  1  was  telling- 
Lord  Sefton  of  Lambton's  nonsense ;'  and  then  they 
both  joined  in  abusing  him,  as  well  they  might.  Did 
you  ever,  in  the  whole  history  of  mankind,  hear  of 
such  a  presumptuous  puppy  ?  However,  1  hope  he 
will  go  on  offending  Lord  and  Lady  Grey,  and  be 
himself  out  of  [iUegH)le~].  I  declare  I  know  of  no 
event  that  would  be  more  favorable  to  Lord  Gre3'^'s 
government,  I  am  delighted  at  that  other  pupp}'' 
Agar.  Ellis  §  being  obliged  from  ill  health  to  give  up 
the  Woods  and  Forests,  and  still  more  delighted  that 
the  excellent  Duncannon  has  got  it.  .  .  .  You  know 
that  the  Queen  would  not  let  old  Mother  St.  Albans  || 
come  to  her  ball  at  the  Pavilion,  tho'  there  were  830 
people  there !" 

*  Madame  de  Dino,  Talleyrand's  niece. 
t  Lord  Durham  had  been  appointed  Lord  Privy  Seal. 
X  Lady  Durham. 

§  Son  of  the  2nd  and  father  of  the  3rd  Viscount  Clifden. 
II  Second  wife  of  the  9th  Duke  of  St.  Albans,  and  relict  of  Thomas 
Coutts  the  banker  ;  originally  well  known  as  the  actress  Mrs.  Mellon. 


56o  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXII. 

"  Feb.  8th. 
".  .  .  Talleyrand  professes  to  Grey  to  be  quite  en- 
chanted with  the  existing  cordiality  between  France 
and  England,  and  lays  it  down  that  such  an  union  can 
set  the  whole  world  at  defiance.  .  .  .  Those  damned 
pension  lists  are  a  cursed  millstone  about  the  neck  of 
the  Government.  Grey  was  almost  crying  when  he 
talked  to  Sefton  of  the  difficulty  and  misery  of  de- 
priving so  many  people  of  their  subsistence.  .  .  ." 

"  Tower,  9th. 

".  .  .  My  dear,  these  damned  pensioners  are  the 
devil's  own  to  carry  thro'  with  us,  and  there  can  be 
no  crowing  till  the  Civil  List  Bill  is  fairly  past. 
There  is  such  an  universal  demand  to  have  them 
flung  out  of  window  that  I  don't  see  how  they  are  to 
escape.  .  .  .  Our  Vaux  is  not  so  tender-hearted  in  his 
department.  By  his  reform  he  is  to  spread  desolation 
by  wholesale  amidst  the  profession.  I  knon)  that  the 
Beau  said  ^^esterday : — *  I  am  very  glad  that  Brougham 
is  Chancellor.  He  is  the  only  man  with  courage  and 
talent  to  reform  that  damned  Court.'" 

"Brooks's,  Feby.  12th. 

".  .  .  There  is  old  Basto  [?  Pascoe]  Grenfell  from 
the  City,  who  says  there  is  but  one  universal  feeling 
of  execration  at  poor  Clunch's  *  project  of  taxing  the 
transfer  of  stock.  In  short,  poor  dear  Whigs,  it  is 
sad  work,  gentlemen,  sad  work !  .  .  ." 

"15th. 
".  .  .  Do  you  take  any  interest  about  Mrs.  Heber, 
the  widow  of  the  Bishop  of  Calcutta?  Because  if 
you  do,  I  can  tell  you  something.  On  her  return 
overland  from  India,  she  picked  up  a  Greek  at  Milan 
and  married  him.  Her  attachment  was,  of  course,  to 
the  sacred  cause  of  his  country.  They  immediately 
started  for  that  classic  land ;  but  unfortunately,  upon 
reaching  Athens,  it  turned  out  that  he  was  provided, 
not  only  with  another  wife,  but  with  a  large  family. 

*  Lord  Althorp,  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  whose  first  budget 
was  very  badly  received. 


1830-31.]    QUEEN   ADELAIDE'S   DRAWING-ROOM.  561 

She  arrived  here  a  few  days  ago,  without  a  husband 
and  nearly  without  a  sou." 

"Tower,  19th. 

".  .  .  Lady  Sefton,  her  three  eldest  daughters, 
Frances  *  and  myself  went  after  dinner  last  night  to 
Lady  Grey's  weekly.  .  .  .  Our  Vaux  was  there  with 
his  daughter.  I  had  some  very  good  laughing  with 
him,  and  he  was  in  his  accustomed  overflowing  glee. 
We  had  some  very  pretty  amusement  with  Viscount 
Melbourne,  who  is  very  agreeable,  .  .  .  Grey  was  very 
loud  to  me  in  praise  of  Edward  Stanley,!  who,  by 
common  consent,  has  made  two  excellent  speeches. 
He  is  quite  ready  for  battle  with  O'Connell,  and  the 
greatest  confidence  is  entertained  that  Edward  will  be 
too  much  for  him." 

"Feb.  24th,  1831. 

".  .  .  There  has  been  a  charming  scene  at  the 
Drawing-room  to-day.  Lady  Jersey  went  up  to  Lord 
Durham  in  the  greatest  fury  and,  in  the  presence  of 
all  the  world,  said  : — '  Lord  Durham,  I  beg  you  will 
call  upon  me  to-morrow  and  briu^  a  ivitness  luitli  you. 
I  have  been  so  shamefully  calumniated,  and  I  will  have 
justice  done  me.' — Duncannon,  who  was  present  and 
heard  this,  was  in  some  horror  of  Lord  Durham's  reply. 
He  turned  as  pale  as  death,  and,  after  a  little  hesita- 
tion, said  very  calmly  : — *  Lady  Jersey,  in  all  probability 
I  shall  never  be  in  your  house  again.'" 

"  27th. 
".  .  .  As  I  was  the  first  who  arrived  in  Arlington 
Street  yesterday  to  dinner,  Sefton  took  me  out  into 
the  corner  room  and  told  me  of  a  scene  between  him 
and  Brougham.  .  .  .  The  Arch-fiend  asked  him  if  he 
had  seen  the  Times  that  morning. — '  No,'  said  Sefton, 
*  not  to-day,  but  I  have  read  it  with  great  uneasiness 
the  three  or  four  preceding  days,  and  I  want  of  all 
things  to  talk  to  you  about  it.' — He  then  opened  his 
case,  stated  the  deliberate  attack  making  upon  Grey 
by  that  paper,  coupled  with  its  constant  panegyrick 

*  Mrs,  Taylor, 

t  Afterwards  14th  Earl  of  Derby,     He  was  Secretary  for  Ireland 
in  Lord  Grey's  administration. 


562  THE   CREEVEY   PAlPERS.  [Ch.  XXlI. 

upon  Brougham,  made  it  necessary  for  Brougham  to 
summon  the  editor,  and  to  insist  upon  these  attacks 
upon  Grey  being  discontinued.  That  otherwise,  as 
Brougham's  influence  over  that  paper  was  notorious 
to  all,  and  as  his  brother  William  was  known  to  write 
for  it,  it  could  not  fail  to  beget  suspicion  that  he — 
Brougham — had  no  objection  to  these  attacks,  and 
that  Ld.  Grey  felt  them  most  sensibly.  That  if  he- 
Brougham — thought  he  would  make  a  better  Prime 
Minister  than  Grey,  and  was  preparing  the  way  for 
that  event,  that  was  matter  for  his  own  consideration  ; 
but  if  he  really  means  the  Government  to  go  on  as  at 
present  formed,  Sefton  conjured  him  to  lose  no  time  in 
imposing  his  most  positive  injunction  on  the  Times 
newspaper  to  alter  its  course. 

"  befton  says  nothing  could  equal  the  artificial  rage 
into  which  Vaux  flung  himself  He  swore  like  a  trooper 
that  he  had  no  influence  over  the  Times — that  he  had 
never  once  seen  Barnes  the  editor  since  he  had  been 
in  office,  and  that  William  had  never  written  a  line  for 
it.  He  then  fell  upon  Lambton — said  all  this  came 
from  him — that  he  had  behaved  in  the  most  imperti- 
nent manner  to  both  his  brothers  upon  this  subject — 
that  if  he  ,went  on  as  he  did  he  must  break  up  the 
Government,  and  that  he,  for  one,  would  never  submit 
to  his  influence.  This  storm  being  over,  Sefton  col- 
lected from  him  distinctly  that  he  had  seen  Barnes 
perhaps  once  or  twice,  and  that  brother  Williarn  might 
perhaps — tho'  quite  unknown  to  him — have  written  an 
article  or  two  in  this  paper.  In  short,  as  our  Earl 
observed,  never  culprit  was  more  clearly  proved 
guilty  than  he  was  out  of  his  own  mouth,  and  it  ended 
by  his  affecting  to  doubt  which  would  be  the  best 
channel  for  getting  at  Barnes — brother  William  or 
Vizard — but  at  all  events  he  pledged  himself  to  Sefton 
that  it  should  be  done.  ..." 

"  28th. 

".  .  .  Well,  the  Times  newspaper  has  evidently  had 
its  visitation  in  the  course  of  yesterday.  It  has  two 
leading  and  very  pozverfiil  articles  in  favor  of  the 
Government.  ...  If  you  come  to  that,  your  Morning 
Herald  of  to-da}'  is  not  amiss  in  support  of  our 
Government.     In  short,  we  are  recovering  b}'  gentle 


1830-31.]        THE   FIRST   DRAFT   OF   REFORM.  563 

degrees  from  Althorp.  He  had  very  nearly  killed  us, 
poor  fellow,  honest  as  he  is,  but  it  must  be  admitted 
that  he  has  been  damned  conceited." 

"  Tower,  March  3rd. 

"  Well,  what  think  you  of  our  Reform  plan  ?  My 
raptures  with  it  encrease  every  hour,  and  my  astonish- 
ment at  its  boldness.  It  was  all  very  well  for  an 
historian  like  Thomas  Creevey  to  lay  down  the  law, 
as  he  did  in  his  pamphlet,  that  all  these  rotten  nomi- 
nation boroughs  were  modern  usurpations,  and  that 
the  communities  of  all  substantial  boroughs  were  by 
law  the  real  electors ;  but  here  is  a  little  fellow  not 
weighing  above  8  stone — Lord  John  Russell  by  name 
— who,  without  talking  of  law  or  anything  else,  creates 
in  fact  a  perfectly  new  House  of  Commons,  quite  in 
conformity  to  the  original  formation  of  that  body.  .  .  . 
What  a  coup  it  is !  It  is  its  boldness  that  makes  its 
success  so  certain.  ...  A  week  or  ten  days  must  elapse 
before  the  Bill  is  printed  and  ready  for  a  2nd  reading ; 
by  that  time  the  country  will  be  in  a  flame  from  one 
end  to  the  other  in  favor  of  the  measure.  ...  I  saw 
the  stately  Buckingham  going  down  to  the  Lords  just 
now.  I  wonder  how  he  likes  the  boroughs  of  Buck- 
ingham and  St.  Mawe's  being  bowled  out.  He  would 
never  have  been  a  duke  without  them,  and  can  there 
be  a  better  reason  for  their  destruction  ?  " 

"  Tower,  5th. 

".  .  .  Well,  our  Reform  rises  in  publick  affection 
every  instant.  .  .  .  To  think  of  dear  Aldborough  and 
Orford,  both  belonging  to  Lord  Hertford,  and  pur- 
chased at  a  great  price,  being  clearly  bowled  out, 
without  a  word  of  with  your  leave  or  by  your  leave. 
Aye,  and  not  only  that  such  proprietors  are  destitute 
of  all  means  of  self-defence,  but  they  are  treated  as 
criminals  by  the  whole  country  for  making  any  fight 
on  their  own  behalf.  ...  At  Crocky's,  even  the 
boroughmongers  admitted  that  their  representative, 
Croker,  had  made  a  damned  rum  figure.  Poor  Billy 
Holmes  !  Both  he  and  Croker  will  have  but  a  slender 
chance  of  being  M.P.'s  again  under  our  restored  con- 
stitution.     In  short,   Pk'ssv,  there  is  no  end  to  the  fun 


564  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXII. 

and  confusion  that  this  measure  scatters  far  and  near 
into  by  far  the  most  corrupt,  insolent,  shameless, 
profligate  gang  that  this  country  contains.  They  are 
all  dead  men  by  this  Bill,  never  to  rise  again,  and  their 
occupation  is  dead  also.  ...  To  be  sure  the  poor  devils 
who  stick  to  the  wreck  will  have  mobbing  enough  from 
out  of  doors  before  the  business  is  over.  ...  It  is  not 
3  weeks  since  Sir  John  Shelley  asked  Lord  Grey  to 
make  him  a  peer,  who  answered  him  by  saying : — 
'  Indeed,  my  dear  Shelley,  to  deal  fairly  with  you,  I 
don't  think  .you  have  any  claims  ;  and  if  you  had,  why 
did  you  not  get  your  friend  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
to  make  you  one?' — What  you  call  a  doicble-^sted  go 
for  the  baronet,  was  it  not?  ' 

"Tower,  March  12th. 

"...  I  fear  Vaux  must  go  crazy.  He  is  like 
Wolsey.  I'll  give  you  a  case  in  point.  We  had  all 
heard  how  his  coach  had  been  stopt  at  the  Horse 
Guards  on  the  day  of  the  Queen's  drawing-room,  and 
that  he  had  got  into  the  greatest  fury  and  called  out 
to  let  any  man  at  his  peril  stop  the  Lord  Chancellor 
of  England  from  going  to  the  King ;  but  your  uiilitaire 
has  a  knack  of  referring  to  an  order,  and  a  written  one 
was  produced,  forbidding  any  carriage  to  pass  thro' 
that  gate  on  days  of  the  Queen's  drawing-rooms, 
except  the  Royal  Family,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
and  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons.  The 
officer  upon  guard  most  civilly  explained  the  order 
and  expressed  his  regret  at  being  obliged  to  enforce 
it ;  but  our  Guy,  little  daunted  or  cajoled  by  all  this, 
put  his  wig  out  of  the  other  window  and  ordered  his 
coachman  to  go  on  at  all  hazards  ;  and  so  he  did,  carry- 
ing Horse  Guards  blue  and  red  all  clear  before  him.  .  .  . 
My  Lord  Chancellor's  defence  to  Sefton  was  that,  not 
only  were  the  Speaker  and  the  Archbishop  down  as 
privilege  men,  but  Lord  Shaftesbury  who  is  chairman 
of  the  House  of  Lords — a  kind  of  deputy  to  Brougham. 
'  So,'  as  the  latter  justly  observed, '  when  I  saw  7ny  ozvu 
man — my  actual  boot-jack — had  the  privilege,  and  not 
me,  it  was  more  than  flesh  and  blood  could  bear.'  .  .  . 
Sefton,  who  sees  the  actual  iiisidcs  of  both  Vaux  and 
Grey,  says  there  is  a  considerable  dislike  in  each  to 


1830-31.]  STIRRING   TIMES.  565 

the  other.  What  an  invaluable  thing  for  both  to  have 
so  sincere,  so  clever  and  so  unintriguing  a  friend  as 
Sefton,  and  how  entertaining  for  us  to  see  all  thro' 
him ! " 

"Tower,  March  14th. 

".  .  .  Sefton  was  still  too  unwell  to  dine  at  Ld. 
Grey's,  which  was  a  terrible  blow  to  us  all;  so  Lady 
Sc/-ton  and  Lady  Maria  called  at  Mrs.  Durham's*  for 
me,  and  took  me  there.  It  was  not  a  large  party — the 
two  female  Seftons,  Lord  Durham,  Morpeth,t  Dun- 
cannon,  Luttrell  and  myself,  with  the  four  Greys  and 
Charles  Greville.  Grey  was  all  alive  o !  quite  over- 
flowing, never  ceasing  in  his  little  civilities  to  myself 
wanting  me  to  eat  this  or  drink  that : — '  Do,  Creevey 
I  assure  you  it's  damned  good ;  I  know  you  will  like 
it.'  Can't  you  see  him  ?  ...  It  was  not  amiss  for  a 
Prime  Minister  to  call  out  at  dinner: — '  Do  you  think, 
Creevey,  we  shall  carry  our  Reform  Bill  in  the 
Lords  ?  *  .  .  .  Lady  Lyndhurst  came  at  night,  and 
very  handsome  she  looked,  tho'  very  near  a  woman 
of  colour.  I  did  not  know  before  that  her  first 
husband,  Captn.  Thomas,  was  killed  in  the  battle  of 
Waterloo.  .  .  ." 

"15th. 

".  .  .  Lord  Dacre  said  to  me  one  day  lately  : — '  Do 
you  know,  Creevey,  how  Brougham  came  to  take  the 
title  of  Vaux?  because,  you  know,  it  is  7iiy  title;  but 
as  I  don't  care  about  such  things,  I  have  never  done 
or  said  anything  about  it.  The  title,  however,  is 
ininc'  ...  As  Vaux  has  not  enough  upon  his  hands, 
he  has  opened  his  batteries  in  the  Times  of  to-day 
against  Lady  Jersey  in  a  longish  and  bitter  article. 
She  is  mad  in  her  rage  against  our  Reform,  and  moves 
heaven  and  earth  against  it  wherever  she  goes 
according  to  her  powers ;  but  those  powers  are  by 
no  means  what  they  used  to  be.  In  short,  she  is  like 
the  rotten  boroughs — going  to  the  devil  as  fast  as  she 
can." 

*  Crecvey's  lodging  in  lUiry  Street, 
t  Afterwards  7th  Earl  of  Carlisle. 


566  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXII. 

'•  14th. 
".  .  .  The  King  never  ceases  to  impress  upon 
Duncannon  that  all  he  and  the  Queen  wish  for  is  to 
be  comfortable.  He  says  that  both  he  and  the  Queen 
find  it  inconvenient  to  be  obliged  to  move  all  their 
books,  papers,  &c.,  out  of  their  own  sitting-rooms 
upon  every  Levee  day  and  Drawing-room,  because 
their  rooms  are  wanted  on  such  occasions  ;  that  as 
for  removing  to  Buckingham  House,  he  will  do  so  if 
the  Government  wish  it,  tho'  he  thinks  it  a  most  ill- 
contrived  house;  and  if  he  goes  there,  he  hopes  it 
may  be  plain,  and  no  gilding,  for  he  dislikes  it 
extremely.  But  what  he  would  prefer  to  everything, 
would  be  living  in  Marlborough  House,  which  is 
Crown  land  and  the  lease  nearly  out.  .  .  .  Billy  says 
if  he  might  have  a  passage  made  to  unite  this  house 
with  St.  James's,  he  thinks  he  and  the  Queen  could 
live  there  very  comfortably  indeed.  Now  was  there 
ever  so  innocent  a  Sovereign  since  the  world  was 
made?" 

"Brooks's,  2 1  St. 

"  I  saw  Lord  Bruffam  chased  by  Lord  Eldon  in 
their  carriages  to  the  door  of  the  House  of  Lords. 
There  is  going  to  be  a  pitched  battle  between  them 
to-night  upon  one  of  Brougham's  Chancery  legal 
reform  bills.  I'll  bet  upon  our  Arch-fiend !  .  .  .  The 
enemy  is  in  the  most  insolent  crowing  state  possible 
to-day,  perfectly  certain,  as  they  say,  to  defeat  our 
Bill.  Wetherell  *  told  me  last  night  he  was  as  sure  of 
their  victory  as  of  his  own  existence." 

"  22nd. 
".  .  .  The  King  and  Queen  were  to  have  gone  to 
the  Opera  to-night,  but  an  account  has  arrived  to-day 
of  the  death  of  Kennedy  who  married  one  of  the  Miss 
Fitzclarences,  so  they  don't  go.  Albemarle  was  to 
have  dined  there  to-day,  but  the  King  said  to  him  :— 
'We  have  no  dinner  to-day,  and  don't  go  to  the  opera, 
because  that  is  pleasure ;  but  we  shall  go  on  with  the 
levee  to-morrow,  because  that  is  duty.'  A  very  pretty 
distinction,  I  think,  for  a  King  to  make." 

*   Sir  Charles  Wetherell  [1770- 1846],  Attorney-General. 


1S3C-31.]         THE    SECOND    REAULNG   CARRIED.  567 

"  Brooks's,  March  23rd. 

"Majorit}^  for  our  Bill 

si^      1      "©a 

"Devilish  near,  was  it  not?  Yesterday  I  was  of 
opinion  that  to  /ose  the  question  by  one  would  have 
been  the  best  thing  for  us ;  but  I  don't  think  so  now. 
.  -.  .  Everybody  likes  winning,  and  it  keeps  people's 
spirits  up.  ...  I  went  into  Crocky's  after  the  opera, 
being  determined  to  wait  the  result,  and  there  were 
quantities  of  people  in  the  same  mind,  friends  and 
foes,  but  we  were  all  as  amicable  and  merry  as  we 
could  be.  A  little  before  five  [a.m.]  our  minds  were 
relieved  by  the  arrival  of  members  without  end — 
friends  and  foes — and  I  must  say  (with  the  exception 
of  young  Jack  Shelley)  the  same  good  temper  and  fun 
were  visible  on  both  sides." 

"Tower,  24tli. 

".  .  .  You  will  see  by  your  paper  of  to-day  that 
Horace  Seymour  and  Captn.  Meynell  are  dismissed 
from  the  King's  household,  their  offence  having  been 
voting  against  the  King's  Reform  Bill.  They  were 
both  of  them  Lord  Hertford's  members.  This  is 
something  like !  Grey  spoke  about  it  to  the  King  at 
the  levee  ^^csterda}^,  and  the  job  was  done  out  of 
hand." 

"  26tll. 

"...  1  wish  3'ou  could  have  been  with  me  when  I 
entered  our  Premier's  drawing-room  last  night.  I 
was  rather  early,  and  he  was  standing  alone  with  his 
back  to  a  fire — the  best  dressed,  the  handsomest,  and 
apparently  the  happiest  man  in  all  his  royal  master's 
dominions.  .  .  .  Lady  Gre^^  was  as  proud  of  my  lord's 
speech  as  she  ought  to  be,  and  s/if,  too,  looked  as 
handsome  and  happ}^  as  ever  she  could  be.  .  .  .  She 
said  at  least  3  times — '  Come  and  sit  here,  Mr.  Creeve3".' 
You  see  the  cause  of  this  uniform  kindness  of  Lady 
Grey  to  mj'self  is  her  recollection  that  I  was  all  for 
Lord  Grey  when  many  of  his  present  worshippers 
were  doing  all  they  could  against  him.  .  .  .  Upon  one 
of  the  ducts  between  Lord  Grey  and   me  last  night, 

2  (J 


568  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXII. 

who  should  be  announced  but  Sir  James  Scarlett. 
He  graciously  put  out  a  hand  for  each  of  us,  but  m}' 
lord  received  him  so  coldly,  that  he  was  off  in  an 
instant,  and  Grey  said  to  me  : — '  What  an  extraordinary 
thing  his  coming  here !  the  more  so,  as  I  don't  believe 
he  was  invited.'  .  .  .  Lady  Grey  said  to  me : — '  I 
really  could  not  be  such  a  hypocrite  as  to  put  out  my 
hand  to  Sir  James  Scarlett ; '  so  he  must  have  had  a 
good  night  of  it !" 

"  28th. 
".  .  .  Our  dinner  at  Sefton's  yesterday  was  ver}' 
agreeable — the  Cowpers,  Edward  and  Mrs.  Stanley, 
Duke  of  Argyll,  Melbourne,  Palmerston,  Foley,  Alava, 
Charles  Greville  and  myself.  Alava  and  1  were  there 
ten  minutes  before  anybody  else,  and  he  was  very 
instructive  about  France,  where  he  has  been  living 
for  the  last  5  years.  As  he  says  of  himself,  he 
naturally  hates  a  Frenchman,  but  he  has  the  greatest 
opinion  of  Casimir.  .  .  .  When  little  Derby  was  going 
to  kneel  upon  being  sworn  a  Privy  Councillor,  the 
King  said  : — '  I  beg  you  won't  kneel.  Lord  Derby  ;  you 
have  the  gout' — '  Your  Majesty  must  allow  me.' — '  I 
won't  hear  of  it ! '  and  he  would  not  let  him.  Then  he 
said  : — '  How  long  have  you  been  Lord  Lieutenant  of 
Lancashire,  my  lord  ?  '  and  when  he  told  him,  the  King 
said  : — *  I  have  often  heard  my  father  say  you  was  the 
best  Lord  Lieutenant  in  England,  and  so  you  are 
now!'" 

"  29th. 

"...  I  think  there  ought  to  be  a  collection  made 
from  authority  of  all  the  sayings  of  our  beloved 
Sovereign.  Take  for  instance  one  that  Albemarle 
told  me,  and  which  he  himself  heard  at  the  Queen's 
drawing-room.  I  don't  know  whether  you  are  aware 
that,  the  King  gives  every  lady  two  kisses,  one  on 
each  cheek ;  but  so  it  is.  Well,  on  Thursday  a  lady 
was  taking  up  her  daughter  to  present  her  to  the 
Queen,  to  do  which  they  pass  the  King.  It  so  happens, 
they  live  somewhere  within  reach  of  Bushey,*  and 
used  to  visit  there.  The  girl  who  was  following  her 
mother  was  so  frightened  that  she  took  no  notice  of 

*  Where  William  IV.  had  lived  as  Duke  of  Clarence. 


1830-31.]  THE   BILL   IN   COMMITTEE.  569 

the  King  as  she  passed  him  ;  upon  which  he  laid  hold 
of  her,  and  taking  her  by  the  hand,  said  : — '  Oh,  oh  !  is 
this  the  way  you  treat  your  country  friends  ?  '  and  then 
gave  her  two  kisses." 

"  i6th  April. 

".  .  .  Now  let  me  make  a  profound  observation 
upon  a  decision  the  Speaker  made  known  last  night 
respecting  Schedule  A  in  the  Reform  Bill,  viz.  that  a 
vote  must  be  taken  upon  these  boroughs  one  by  one, 
and  not  in  the  lump.  Permit  me  to  say  that,  for  us, 
this  is  perfectly  invaluable  ;  the  list  being  alphabetical, 
the  first  two  boroughs  in  the  schedule  are  Aldborough 
in  Yorkshire,  belonging  to  the  Duke  of  Newcastle, 
and  the  other  Aldborough  in  Suffolk  belonging  to 
Lord  Hertford — both  the  rottenest  of  the  rotten.  Well 
then — if  the  House  votes  for  abolishing  either  Ald- 
borough, the  principle  of  abolition  is  admitted  ;  if  they 
vote  against  it  and  succeed,  then  we  go  to  a  dissolution 
upon  one  of  the  rottenest  cases  in  the  schedule.  This 
is  t/ie  object  of  all  others  for  an  appeal  to  the  country 
upon." 

"  i8th. 
"Sefton  and  I  had  Lord  Chancellor  Vaux  to  our- 
selves last  night  in  Arlington  Street.  ...  I  can't  con- 
ceal from  you  that,  after  he  was  gone,  Sefton  and  I 
both  agreed  that  a  more  unsatisfactory  devil  we  had 
never  beheld.  Altho'  he  was  in  the  most  loquacious, 
animated  state,  we  could  neither  of  us  make  out  for 
the  life  of  us  what  he  would  be  at.  The  only  thing 
we  could  agree  upon  was  that  he  was  an  intriguing, 
perfidious  rogue." 

"  Tower,  21st. 

".  .  .  This  is  a  memorable  day,  and  this  a  memorable 
hour  of  it,  for  our  Sovereign  has  taken  to  this  time  to 
deliberate  whether  he  accedes  to  Lord  Grey's  applica- 
tion for  a  dissolution.  ...  At  all  events  the  Reform 
Bill  is  to  be  abandoned  in  the  House  of  Commons 
to-night  upon  the  grounds  that,  in  siic/i  a  IIuksc  of 
Commons,  to  carry  it  through  is  impossible.  If  the 
King  runs  true,  a  dissolution  is  to  be  announced  at 
the  same  time;  if  he  does  not,  the  Ministers  have  to 
state  that  they  have  resigned." 


570  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXII. 

Ardent  and  uncompromising  reformer  and  advocate 
of  retrenchment  as  Creevey  had  alwa3^s  been,  it  is 
comical  to  see  how  he  winced  when  the  Committee, 
appointed  by  Lord  Grey's  Government  to  revise  the 
scale  of  salaries,  trenched  upon  his  own  emoluments. 
"Have  you  seen,"  he  asks  his  step-daughter*,  "how 
that  damned  retrenching  Committee  have  docked  my 
office  of  ^^"200  a  year?"  And  again — "If  Earl  Grey 
does  not  get  me  back  my  ^200  a  year  as  Treasurer — 
I'll  eat  him  !  "  Most  of  the  Treasurer's  correspondence 
at  this  time  is  taken  up  with  the  fluctuating  prospects 
of  the  Reform  Bill,  and  with  various  possibilities 
which  presented  themselves  of  his  re-entering  Par- 
liament in  order  to  give  the  measure  his  support. 
But,  as  usual,  his  letters  are  full  of  diverse  incidents 
and  gossip.  Describing  a  royal  night  at  the  Opera, 
he  observes  : — "  Billy  4th  at  the  Opera  was  everything 
one  could  wish  :  a  more  JVappiug  air  I  defy  a  king  to 
have — his  hair  five  times  as  full  oipoudre  as  mine,  and 
his  seaman's  gold  lace  cock-and-pinch  hat  was  charm- 
ing. He  slept  most  part  of  the  Opera — never  spoke 
to  any  one,  or  took  the  slightest  interest  in  the  con- 
cern. ...  I  was  sorry  not  to  see  more  of  Victoria : 
she  was  in  a  box  with  the  Duchess  of  Kent,  opposite 
arid,'  of'"co\irse,  rather  under  us.  When  she  looked 
over  the  box  I  saw  her,  and  she  looked  a  very  nice 
little  girl  indeed." 


Cs' 


Mr.  Crccvcy  to  Miss  Ord.  j, 

"  April  231-d. 

".  .  .  Nothing  could  exceed  the  firmness  and  con- 
duct altogether  of  our  Sovereign  yesterday.  I  know 
from  Lord  Grey  that,  when  the  latter  stated  the  in- 
convenience that   might    arise    from    proroguing    b}' 


1830-31.]     CREEVEY    RETURNS    TO    PARLIAMENT.         5/1 

commission,  but  added  that  it  was  quite  out  of  tlie 
question  to  ask  his  Majesty  to  prorogue  in  person, 
the  King  replied  : — '  My  lord,  I'll  go,  if  I  go  in  a 
hackney  coach ! ' " 

On  4th  May  Thomas  Creevey  and  James  Brougham, 
brother  of  the  Chancellor,  were  returned  as  members 
for  Downton  borough  in  the  county  of  Wilts,  by 
favour  of  the  Earl  of  Radnor — the  truculent  Folke- 
stone of  Peninsular  days.  The  affair  was  conducted 
in  the  good  old  style ;  neither  of  the  candidates  took 
the  trouble  to  visit  their  constituents,  who  were 
exceedingly  few  and  docile,  quite  content  to  be  repre- 
sented by  anybody  whom  Lord  Radnor  chose  to  name 
to  them. 

"Brooks's,  May  nth. 
''.  .  .  Having  been  dressed  by  Mr.  Durham,  Mrs. 
Durham  *  and  Sally  her  niece,  it  was  agreed  that 
never  coat  fitted  so  well  or  was  so  becoming,  and 
off  we  went  [to  Court].  Would  you  believe  it?  in 
about  ten  minutes  I  was  detected  as  being  in  the 
wrong  livery.  It  is  the  Household  only  that  wear  red 
collars  and  cuffs ;  the  official  ones  are  black.  This 
was  rather  a  bore,  but  it  made  great  fun,  as  Earl  Grey 
happened  to  come  into  our  room  whilst  we  were  in 
progress  to  the  Presence  Chamber.  I  caught  hold  of 
him  and  told  him  of  my  mistake,  upon  which  I  thought 
he  would  have  burst,  he  was  so  entertained,  and  he 
swore  the  King  would  find  me  out  directly.  But  pas 
du  tout:  when  I  had  kissed  his  hand,  he  said  in  the 
most  good-natured  manner: — 'Oh,  Creevey,  how  d'ye 
do?  It  is  a  long  time  since  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
seeing  you.'  Little  Sussex  was  next  to  him,  and 
when  I  retired  from  my  Sovereign  backing,  he  said  out 
loud  : — '  How  gracefully  he  does  it ! '  and  even  Privy 
Sealt  laughed  out  loud.  So  it  was  all  mighty  well, 
and  Jemmy  McDonald  brought  me  back." 

*  Who  kept  his  lodgings  in  Bury  Street, 
t  Lord  D  mil  am. 


572  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXII. 

"1 2th. 

",  .  .  It  zuas  in  contemplation,  by  some  of  tlie 
Cabinet,  to  postpone  the  Reform  Bill  when  [the  new] 
Parliament  met  till  autumn — a  step  that  would  have 
been  madness,  and  perhaps  ruin  to  them.  That,  how- 
ever, is  quite  abandoned,  and  Lambton  authorised 
them  to  state  at  the  Middlesex  election  that  it  would 
come  on  the  very  first  thing." 

"  9th  May. 

'^  .  .  I  had  a  very  good  day  yesterday  at  my  dear 
and  old  friend  Essex's — Lords  Sefton,  Foley,  Cowper, 
Ducie,  and  Du  Cane,  Ellice  and  Poodle  Byng :  then  to 
Arlington  Street  [the  Seftons] ;  then  to  Dow.  Sally's.* 
...  1  called  yesterday  on  Niffy  and  the  Pop,t  but 
both  were  out." 

"1 6th. 

".  .  .  Brougham  said  to  Sefton  yesterday  : — '  I  hear 
a  batch  of  new  peers  is  on  the  stocks ;  but  /  have 
never  been  consulted ;  which  I  think  is  pretty  well, 
considering  my  situation.  However,  as  they  can't  be 
made  without  the  Great  Seal  being  put  to  their  patents, 
I'll  be  damned  if  I  use  it  for  such  purpose  till  I  am 
properly  consulted  and  give  my  consent !'  ...  As  I 
learnt  from  Lord  Sefton  that  Brougham's  observations 
about  me  had  been  made  at  the  Queen's  ball  last 
Monday,  I  was  prepared  for  some  change  of  manner 
in  him  when  we  met  at  dinner  at  Mrs.  Ferguson's  on 
Thursday ;  but  it  was  quite  otherwise.  .  .  .  We  met 
again  on  Saturday  at  Hughes's,  and  tho'  he  was 
evidently  out  of  sorts,  it  was  not  with  me,  for  he  con- 
fided to  me  before  dinner  that  he  never  saw  such  a 
set  of  bores  collected  together — that  the  thing  was 
damnable — and  whenever  he  made  any  exertion  at 
dinner,  it  was  in  addressing  me  at  quite  the  other  end 
of  the  table.  As  to  bores,  1  don't  know  that  they  were 
particularly  so.  Lady  Augusta  Milbank,  and  Ciss 
Underwood,  with  such  a  profusion  of  gold  bijouterie 
in  all  parts  that  nothing  was  wanting  but  something 

*  Dowager  Marchioness  of  Salisbury. 

t  Marquess  and  Marchioness  of  Cleveland. 


1830-31.]  THE    PRIME    MINISTER.  573 

hanging  from  her  nose.  Sir  Harry  and  Lady  Grey, 
little  Sussex,  Vaux,  Lords  Dundas  and  Uxbridge,* 
Denman,  Col.  J.  Hughes,  Councillor  Whateley,  Ad- 
miral Codrington  (a  real  bore),  Mr.  Creevey,  and  some 
others  I  think,  1  sat  next  to  Denman,t  and  never 
was  more  surprised  than  to  find  him  a  feeble  punster 
and  as  commonplace  a  chap  in  conversation  as  I  ever 
saw  in  my  life.  As  Suss  t  took  to  smoking,  and  Vaux 
from  cnniu  did  the  same,  1  availed  myself  of  my 
remote  situation  near  a  door,  and  whipt  off  before 
they  went  to  coffee." 

"Tower,  May  i8th,  1831. 

"...  I  paid  a  visit  to  Lady  Grey  in  her  [opera] 
box.  .  .  .  She  is  always  shy  of  giving  political 
opinions  except  when  alone  ;  but  upon  my  observing 
that,  from  what  I  heard.  Brougham  must  be  in  his 
tantrums  at  present : — '  I  believe,'  she  said,  '  he  is  mad.' 
As  she  and  Lord  Grey  had  been  staying  at  Holland 
House,  I  asked  how  it  had  answered,  and  she  said : — 
'As  well  as  it  could,  sitting  down  15  at  dinner  each 
da}''  to  a  table  that  holds  only  nine.' — Can't  you  see 
her  saying  that?  .  .  .  Grey  complains  of  giddiness, 
and  no  wonder,  with  all  he  eats  and  his  little  exercise." 


"  27th. 

".  .  .  While  I  was  riding  in  the  Park  yestcrda}',  I 
received  rather  a  smartish  spat  on  my  shoulder  from 
an  unseen  stick.  When  I  turned  round  and  saw  my 
assailant  in  quite  an  ultra  fit  of  laughing,  who  do  you 
suppose  it  could  be?  No  other  than  our  Prime 
Minister.  .  .  .  When  I  said  of  his  royal  master  that 
every  new  thing  I  heard  of  him  raised  him  higher  in 
my  opinion,  he  said : — '  He  is  a  prime  fellow,  is  he 
not?'  ...  I  heard  part  of  the  King's  letter  to  Lord 
Grey  : — 'The  King  considers  it  as  most  important  in 
the  present  crisis  of  affairs  to  give  some  decisive  proof 
of  his  unqualified  confidence  in  Lord  Grey,  and  for 
such  a  purpose  he  trusts  Lord  Grey  will  no  longer 

*  Afterwards  2nd  Marquess  of  Anglesey. 

t  Afterwards  Lord  Chief  Justice,  created  Lord  Denman  in  1834. 

t  H.R.H.  the  Uukc  of  Sussex. 


574  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.      [Ch.  .\XII. 

resist  receiving  from  his  hands  the  Order  of  the 
Garter,  altho'  that  Order  is  now  full;  Lord  Grey  to 
be  an  Extra  Knight,  and  the  Order  to  be  reduced  to 
its  proper  number  upon  the  first  vacanc}^'" 

"  30th. 
"...  1  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  our  own  new 
knight,  and  very  severe  we  were  upon  him  for  wear- 
ing his  Garter  upon  pantaloons  or  trowsers — he  who 
always  makes  so  distinguished  a  figure  in  shorts  and 
buckles." 

"June  14th. 

"...  Well,  Mull  *  tells  me  it  is  all  settled  about 
his  father's  peerage — Baron  Sefton  of  Croxteth.f— 
There  are  only  four  others — Kinnaird  one,  which  is  a 
charming  blow  by  our  Sovereign  to  the  Scotch  peers 
who  would  not  elect  him  one  of  the  16  representative 
peers." 

"  iSth. 

".  .  .  Rather  sharp  work  this  day  16  years  ago  at 
Waterloo  and  Brussels.  .  .  .  Lord  Grey  told  Sefton 
that  Lambton  ^  made  him  both  miserable  and  actually 
ill  by  his  constant  interference  and  persecution  of 
him.  .  ,  .  Charles  Greville  told  me  he  was  at  Lady 
Jersey's  when  Wellington  was  there,  the  subject  of 
conversation  being  the  cholera  morbus.  Lady  Jersey 
said  to  the  Duke  : — '  You  know  what  Lord  Grey  has 
done  about  it?' — 'No.' — '  He  has  given  orders  that  all 
merchandise  coming  from  the  Baltic  shall  be  instantly 
destroyed.' — *  Oh  impossible  ! ' — '  But  I  know  it  to  be 
quite  true.'  Just  at  that  time  she  left  the  room  and 
the  Duke  availed  himself  of  her  absence  to  observe 
to  Greville — '  What  damned  nonsense  Lady  Jersey 
talks!'  ..." 

"  20th. 

",  .  .  Yesterday  I  dined  in  Portland  Place  and 
went  in  the  evening  to  Downing  Street,  where  I 
found  Tommy  Moore  at  the  pianoforte,  playing  and 
singing  his  own  melodies  ;  and  very  much  delighted 
I  was  with  his  performance." 

*  Viscount  Molyncux,  afterwards  3rd  Earl  of  Sefton. 
t  He  was  Earl  of  Sefton  only  in  the  peerage  of  Ireland. 
±  Lord  Durham. 


1S30-31.]  INFLUENZA.  575 


"25th. 

"." .  .  I  have  been  giving  a  curious  receipt  upon  a 
curious  subject.  The  Duke  of  Wellington  and  Sir 
Wm.  Knighton  have  this  day  paid  me  £3,170  as 
executors  of  his  late  Majesty.  The  money  is  for  tents 
erected  upon  that  part  of  Windsor  Park  called  the 
-Virginia  Water^  The  canvas  composing  the  tents  is 
from  Ordnance  stores,  and  as  his  Majesty  was  pleased 
to  imagine  that  whenever  he  took  the  field,  his  Ord- 
nance Department  must  supply  him  with  tents,  he 
never  meant  to  pay  for  these  articles.  Tennyson, 
finding  the  amount  of  this  job  in  his  books,  has 
demanded  pa3mient  from  the  executors.  .  .  .  What 
think  you  of  the  payment  of  the  artificers  who  put  up 
these  tents — four  large  and  four  small  ones — being 
upwards  of  ^^'2000  out  of  the  ^^3,170?  I  think 
Knighton  must  have  been  one  of  these  artificers.  If 
such  a  sum  can  have  been  spent  upon  a  few  tents, 
what  think  you  of  the  whole  expenditure  of  the 
Virginia  Water,  Cottage,  &c.,  &c.  ?  Oh  dear,  oh 
dear !  .  .  .  Well  our  Reform  Bill  made  its  first 
appearance  last  night,  and  under  most  pacific  circum- 
stances. .  .  .  Peel  was  very  temperate." 

"30th. 
".  .  .  Our  Earl   [Sefton]  is  confined  with  the  in- 
fiuenza  {/a  grippe),  and  sent  all  over  the  town  for  me 
3^esterday.  .  .  ." 

"  July  6th. 

"...  I  went  to  Arlington  Street  yesterda}^  and 
found  Lady  Sefton,  and  was  half  inclined  to  put  off* 
dining  there  in  order  to  be  present  at  the  Honorable 
[House],  but  she  said  I  really  should  be  of  use,  as 
Lord  Sefton  was  still  very  unwell  and  very  low,  and 
that  as  Lord  Grey  and  Mr.  and  Lad}^  Elizabeth  Bultccl 
were  the  only  company',  she  begged  me  to  come  and 
help  the  part\' ;  so  what,  you  know,  could  I  do  ?  The 
two  Earls  looked  shockingly,  and  were  still  labouring 
under  the  grippe,  and  were  as  low  as  could  be  to 
•  begin  with ;  but  altho'  I  say  it  who  should  not,  I 
never  had  a  better  benefit  than  I  had  in  bringing  them 
both     about.        It     is    not    usual    to    aniiisc    a     Prime 


576  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXII. 

Minister  by  jokes  upon  members  of  his  own  Cabinet ; 
but  the  'Siarnese  youths'  and  the  genteel  comedy 
man  Graham,*  zvith  imitations,  stretched  the  veins  in 
his  forehead  to  their  utmost,  poor  fellow.  He  said 
with  the  greatest  innocence :— '  Everybody  told  me 
there  was  nothing  to  be  done  without  the  two  Grants,! 
and  they  have  never  been  worth  a  farthing  ! ' " 

"  9th. 
''.  .  .  We  had  a  rum  go  of  it  in  the  H.  of  Commons 
last  night  in  our  division  and  minority  about  issuing 
the  Liverpool  writ.  I  never  saw  such  feeble  devils 
as  our  young  Cabinet  Ministers.  .  .  .  Lord  Sefton  is 
again  very  unwell  and  confined  to  the  house.  Halford, 
who  had  seen  him  to-day,  is  himself  very  unwell  with 
this  grippe,  and  he  says  the  way  he  is  hunted  after  by 
a  succession  of  invalids  under  the  same  complaint,  is 
really  beyond  ! " 

"nth. 
''.  .  .  I  dine  on  Friday  at  Lord  Melbourne's,  Satur- 
day at  Lord  Petre's,  Sunday  at  Down  Sally's.  ...  A 
card  from  Lady  Jersey  for  Thursday— the  first  this 
season.  Does  she  begin  to  think  at  last  that  she  can't 
turn  the  Government  out  ?  or  is  it  in  return  for  Grey's 
civility  in  sending  as  he  did  to  the  Beau  and  Peel  to 
beg  their  assistance  at  a  Council  about  the  intended 
Coronation.  Charles  Greville  carried  the  message 
from  Grey,  and  they  both  seemed  much  pleased,  and 
said  they  would  attend." 

"  Stoke,  August  22nd. 

"...  I  am  very  fond  of  Melbourne.  There  is  an 
absence  of  all  humbug  about  him  and  a  frankness  and 
good-humour  that,  in  a  Secretary  of  State,  are  charm- 
ing. What  a  contrast  to  the  wretched,  feeble,  artificial 
Roscius  !"  + 

*  Right  Hon.  Sir  James  Graham  [1792-1861],  First  Lord  of  the 
Admiralty. 

t  One  Grant  was  the  Right  Hon.  Charles  Grant  [i  778-1 866],  after- 
wards created  Lord  Glenelg.  He  held  office  in  Lord  Grey's  Cabinet 
as  President  of  the  Board  of  Controul.  The  other  was  Robert  Grant, 
M.P.,  a  Canningite,  appointed  Governor  of  Bombay  in  1834. 

X  Marquess  of  Lansdowne. 


IS30-3I-]  THE   RACE    FOR    HONOURS.  57/ 

The  approaching  Coronation  caused  the  usual 
fierce  competition  and  humiliating  supplications  for 
peerages,  baronetcies,  and  such-like.  The  good 
offices  of  Creevey,  as  a  member  of  the  Government, 
were  enlisted  in  many  quarters.  Here  is  a  note  from 
the  Lord  Chancellor  referring  to  the  claim  of  one 
of  his  friends  who  desired  some  genealogical  par- 
ticulars inserted  in  his  patent  of  baronetcy. 


Lord  Brougham  and  Vaux  to  Mr.  Crcevcy. 

"Dear  C, 

"  I  return  the  letter  of  Lady  W[alsham].  The 
insertion  is  wholly  impossible.  It  is  making  the 
Crown  and  Great  Seal  a  party  to  an  assertion  of 
pedigree,  &c.,  &c.,  without  a  shadow  of  evidence, 
except  their  own  assertion.  For  aught  I  can  tell, 
there  may  be  half  a  dozen  people  who  say  they  are 
heirs-at-law  of  the  1661  man. 

"  Yours  ever, 

"  H.  B. 

"  H.  Meux  is  grandson  of  an  old  baronet,  and  heir- 
at-law  undeniably,  and  connected  with  the  Blood 
Royal  in  two  or  three  ways ;  but  he  has  not  the 
slightest  allusion  to  it  in  his  patent.  Such  things  are 
never  done  for  any  of  the  idiots  who  think  nothing 
so  good  as  nick-names.  I  am  sure  Lady  W.  would 
have  been  far  less  pleased  if  her  husband  had  made 
the  best  speech  ever  was  made  in  Parlt,  or  her  son 
had  been  Senior  Wrangler.  I  hope  the  fools  know  it 
costs  them  above  ^1200.  It  is  twice  the  price  of  a 
peerage." 

Mr.  Crccviy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Sept.  7th. 
".  .  .   I  returned  to  the   Honorable,  and  was  in  at 
the  death,  thank  God !  of  the  Reform  Bill  Committee. 


5/8  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXII. 

.  .  .  Western  can't  be  made  a  peer  at  present*  least 
Jack  Tyrrell  should  supply  his  place  in  our  house." 

"Sept.  1 6,  1 83 1. 

''.  .  .  Our  Reform  Report  past  last  night  without 
a  division,  and  the  only  remaining  stage  is  the  3rd 
reading  of  the  Bill  on  Monday  next,  which  it  is 
calculated  will  occupy  two,  if  not  three  nights.  I  am 
happy  to  say  that  our  Earl  Grey  is  as  stout  as  a  lion 
as  to  the  result  of  the  Bill  m  the  Lords.  If  it  is 
defeated,  his  mind  is  quite  made  up  to  prorogue  for 
six  weeks  or  two  months — make  a  new  batch  of  peers 
in  the  interval  that  shall  be  quite  sufficient  in  number 
to  secure  the  measure,  and  then  start  fresh  with  it. 
As  Holland  said  to  me  the  other  day— if  this  bill  is 
rejected,  the  question  will  be,  will  you  have  revolution 
or  will  you  have  a  larger  House  of  Lords  ?  and  a  very 
sensible  man  he  is,  with  quite  as  warm  an  attachment 
to  his  office  of  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster 
as  another  person  who  shall  be  nameless  to  the 
Treasurership  of  the  Ordnance  ! " 

"  Stoke,  20th. 

''.  .  .  Old  Wickedshifts  and  I  had  a  most  agreeable 
duet  to  Stoke, t  or  at  least  within  3  miles  of  it,  when 
he  had  fairly  talked  himself  to  sleep.  .  .  .  Sefton  and 
I  were  more  astonished  at  him  than  ever.  By  his 
conversation  with  old  Talleyrand  it  appeared  'most 
clearly  that  Vaux  had  been  intimately  acquainted  with 
every  leading  Frenchman  in  the  Revolution,  and 
indeed  with  every  Frenchman  and  every  French  book 
that  Tally  mentioned.  He  always  led  in  this  conver- 
sation, as  soon  as  Tally  had  started  his  subject.  Our 
party  altogether  was  a  most  agreeable  one — Tally  and 
the  Dino,  Esterhazy,  M[il/egible']  his  2nd  in  command, 
Vaux,  old  Greville  and  Ly.  Charlotte,  Punch  |  and 
Henry,  Alava,  Luttrell  and  myself  ...  I  got  to  the 
Honorable  [House]  before  12,  when  I  found  there  had 
been  a  division;  in  short,  the   Bill   read    a    3rd    time 

*  Mr.  Western  was  made  a  peer  in  1833. 

t  Brougham  had  taken  Creevey  down  in  his  carriage  from  London. 

+  Charles  Grcvillc. 


1830-31.]  CORONATION    GOSSIP.  5/9 

between  5  and  6  o'clock — a  surprise,   which  did  not 
serve  the  purpose  which  its  wily  authors  intended!" 

"  House  of  Commons,  22nd. 
".  ,  .  johnn}'  has  taken  up  his  child  in  his  arms, 
followed  by  a  rare  tribe  of  godfathers,  and  old 
Brougham  approached  us  with  proper  dignit}^,  and 
taking  it  into  his  arms  carried  it  to  his  place  and  told 
their  lordships  the  name  given  to  it  by  the  Commons. 
Then  Lord  Grey  having  moved  it  to  be  read  the  first 
time,  which  was  done,  moved  the  2nd  reading  for 
Monday  week  2nd  October,  which  was  agreed  to — not 
a  word  said." 

"  Brooks's,  Sept.  23rd. 

".  .  .  Let  me  mention  a  thing  which  Sefton  told 
me  when  I  was  at  Stoke.  I  was  expressing  some 
surmise  about  this  late  jaw  respecting  the  Duchess  of 
Kent's  absence  from  the  Coronation,  and  the  cause  of 
it,  when,  having  according  to  custom  bound  me  to 
secrecy,  he  said  he  would  tell  me  all  about  it,  having 
had  it  from  Brougham.  The  offensive  attack  upon 
her  for  her  absence,  assigning  pure  pique  as  the  cause 
of  it,  made  its  appearance  in  the  Times  newspaper, 
and  this  became  food  for  all  the  others  ;  upon  which 
B.  sent  his  secretary  Le  Marchant  to  Barnes,  editor 
of  the  Tiiucs,  insisting  upon  knowing  whose  article  it 
was,  knowing  as  he  did  that  it  was  pure  invention. 
Barnes  said  it  came  from  an  authority  that  he  implicitly. 
relied  on,  but  that  he  could  not  and  would  not  give 
him  up.  Le  Marchant,  when  he  brought  this  report 
to  B.,  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that,  if  B.  himself  took 
Barnes  in  hand,  the  latter  would  strike.  He  was,  of 
course,  summoned  accordingly,  and  having  yielded  to 
the  thundering  or  seducing  arguments  of  our  Vaux, 
the  libeller  turned  out  to  be  no  other  than  Henry  dc 
Ros,  as  at  present  Lord  de  Ros.  It  seems  he  and 
Barnes  have  been  lately  mixed  up  a  good  deal  together 
at  Paris,  and  this  is  the  use  de  Ros  has  chosen  to 
make  of  the  connection.  It  is  barely  possible  that 
de  Ros  may  have  believed  this  to  be  true,  upon  the 
authority  of  his  sister,  who,  you  know,  is  Maid  of 
Honor  to  the  Queen.  .  .  .  The  object,  however,  both 


58o  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXII. 

of  sister  and  brother  was  clearly  to  do  the  Duchess  of 
Kent  an  injury,  and  by  such  means  to  please  the  King 
and  Queen,  particularly  the  latter,  who  is  known  to 
have  somewhat  adverse  feelings  to  the  Duchess.  The 
thing,  however,  was  utterly  destitute  of  foundation, 
the  Duchess  of  Kent  having  most  respectfully  asked 
the  King  for  permission  to  absent  herself  on  account 
of  her  child's  health,  and  the  King,  in  the  most  gracious 
manner,  having  greatly  extolled  her  conduct  for  the 
reasons  assigned  by  her. 

"The  Duchess  of  Kent  wrote  to  her  adviser,  Vaux, 
in  a  strain  of  the  greatest  distress  and  vexation,  but 
she  is  now  pacified,  and  he  has  informed  her  of  his 
discovery  of  the  slanderer,  but  that  he  humbly  requests 
of  her  R.  Highness  that  she  will  not  command  him  to 
disclose  the  author.  In  the  mean  time,  as  no  one 
knows  better  how  to  turn  any  little  matter  to  account 
than  our  Vaux,  and  as  he  knows  that  de  Ros  is  to  be 
a  thorough-stitch  opposer  of  our  Reform  Bill  in  the 
Lords,  he  sends  for  the  innocent  Leinster,  and  he 
states  to  him  with  unaffected  regret  that  Lord  de  Ros 
has  unfortunately  compromised  himself  and  character 
in  an  affair  of  great  publick  importance,  and  is  entirely 
in  the  hands  of  the  Government.  Under  such  circum- 
stances, Vaux  requests  the  Duke  to  urge  his  kinsman 
with  all  his  might  to  use  every  possible  caution  against 
this  matter  being  made  publick.  Now  was  there  ever? 
Do  you  think  de  Ros's  vote  will  be  withheld  by  this 
plotofVaux's?" 

"  Brooks's,  Oct.  6th. 

".  .  .  What  the  result  [of  the  division  of  the  Lords] 
will  be,  no  one  knows,  excepting  this  much,  that  their 
strength  is  in  proxies,  ie.y  in  those  who  are  rejecting 
the  Bill  without  hearing  it." 

There  is  no  mention  in  Creevey's  letters  of  the 
result  which  took  place  on  the  8th  October.  The 
Lords  divided  at  six  in  the  morning,  throwing  out 
the  Bill  by  199  votes  to  158.  A  few  days  earlier, 
Macaulay  had  spoken  the  memorable  words: — "  I  know 
only  two  wa3^s  in  which  societies  can  be  governed — 


1830-31.]  THE   REFORM   AGITATION.  581 

by  public  opinion  and  by  the  sword  ;"  and  immediately 
the  reality  of  the  alternative  became  apparent  in  the 
country.  An  agitation  of  violence,  unparalleled  since 
the  Civil  War,  raged  in  every  part  of  the  kingdom, 
and  the  forces  of  the  Crown  proved  unequal  to  cope 
with  those  of  the  populace  in  Bristol,  Nottingham, 
and  other  places.  Creevey  paid  a  visit  to  Dublin 
during  the  autumn,  in  which  it  is  not  necessary  to 
follow  him  ;  observing,  in  passing,  that  his  passage 
from  Holyhead  to  Kingstown  occupied  "just  sixteen 
hours,  the  average  trip  being  six  hours  and  a  half" 
He  was  back  in  time  for  the  meeting  of  Parliament 
on  6th  December,  it  having  been  prorogued  on 
20th  October. 


(     5«2 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

1832-1833. 

The  year  1832  dawned  upon  a  stricken  field.  The 
great  battle  for  Reform  seemed  to  have  been  fought 
and  won.  It  is  true  that  the  forces  upon  each  side 
were  still  in  array  upon  their  respective  positions;  the 
artillery  of  both  was  still  discharging  its  thunder ;  but 
the  majority  of  162  by  which  the  Bill  had  been  carried 
before  the  Christmas  adjournment  had  shattered  the 
last  hopes  of  the  Opposition.  Excursions  and  alarums 
continued  when  the  House  met  again,  but  all  men  had 
made  up  their  minds  to  the  inevitable,  and  were  cast- 
ing about  for  some  sure  foothold  under  the  new  order 
of  things.  Nevertheless,  the  House  of  Lords,  as  it 
proved,  were  read}^  to  renew  the  war. 

Mr.  Crccvcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"Jany.  20th,  1S32. 
".  .  .  Oh  dear!  what  a  squeak  we  had  last  night. 
To  come  down  to  a  majority  of  only  20.  Sad  work, 
gentlemen,  sad  work!  However,  it  might. have  been 
worse,  for  the  enemy  to  the  last  thought  we  were  beat. 
We  are  bunglers  when  we  quit  the  subject  of  Reform. 
...  It  is  some  comfort  that  in  our  other  shop,  the 
Lords,  everything  went  well.  Lord  Grey  had  msisted 
on  Lord  Hill*  voting  against  the  Duke  pf  Wellmgton, 
and  he  did  so— looking  very  miserable." 

*  As  Commander-in-chief,  and  therefore  a  member  of  the  Govern- 
ment. 


I832-33-]  THE    PROSPECTS    OF   THE    RILL.  583 

"30th. 
".  .  .  Durham  told  me  Tennyson  *  is  moving  heaven 
and  earth  to  get  the  name  of  his  office  changed  from 
*  clerk '  to  that  of  *  secretary '  or  anything  else,  alleging 
gravely  as  a  reason  that  a  very  advantageous  marriage 
for  his  eldest  daughter  had  gone  off,  solely  from  the 
lover  not  being  able  to  stand  the  lady's  father  being 
?i  clerk  r' 

"  Feb.  I3tli. 

".  .  .  Yesterday  I  dined  in  Arlington  Street,  with 
Talleyrand,  the  Dino,  Lord  and  Lady  Cowper,  the 
Dukes  of  Devonshire  and  Argyll,  Mulgrave  and 
Charles  Greville,  and  a  very  agreeable  day  we  had,  in 
spite  of  the  total  deafness  of  the  D.  of  Devonshire." 

'•  3 1  St. 

"We  had  a  great  go  of  it  last  night:  53  boroughs 
fell  in  succession  without  a  fight.  But  there  is  still 
great  division  in  the  Cabinet  about  making  peers, 
altho'  Lord  Grey  has  now  the  King's  permission 
under  his  oimi  hand  in  writing  to  use  his  own  discre- 
tion in  making  whatever  addition  to  the  Peerage  he 
thinks  necessary.  Brougham's  illness  seemed  to 
affect  his  vigor  of  mind,  and  made  him  rather  on  the 
jib  on  this  subject;  but  now  he  is  himself  again,  and 
quite  as  vigorous  as  ever  in  his  demand  for  new  peers. 
Grey,  Goderich,  Holland  and  Lambton  are  on  the 
same  side,  but  there  is  a  regular  murrain  in  all  the  rest 
of  the  squad.  .  .  .  King  \^\\\y  hates  the  peer-making, 
but  as  a  point  of  honor  to  his  ministers  he  gives 
them  unlimited  |)ower," 

"  .^L1rch  13th  (my  birthday  . 

"  We  had  a  great  party  in  Downing  Street  last 
night,  the  Tories  being  at  least  3  to  i  to  us  Whigs.  1 
had  a  most  agreeable  conversation  with  Lord  Gre}-, 
quite  at  his  ease  in  a  corner,  and  1  beg  to  record  the 
substance  of  part  of  it,  that  we  may  see  how  his 
predictions  correspond  with  the  event.  1  asked  him 
how  he  felt  about  this  Bill  of  his — did  he  feel  con-» 
tidcnt  ho  could  carry  the  2nd  reading? — 'Oh  certainly. 

'  Clerk  to  the  Board  of  Ordnance. 


584  THE   CREEVF.Y    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXIII. 

We  shall  be  able  to  carry  Schedule  A — to  give 
members  to  the  great  towns,  and  to  carry  the  £10 
qualification  clause  without  any  alteration.'  I  said  I 
trusted  he  was  not  too  sanguine  about  it,  for  that 
I  never  could  believe  it  till  I  saw  it ;  but  that,  if  he 
proved  to  be  right,  he  need  not  care  about  the  loss  of 
.Schedule  B  or  anything  else,  because  a  new  Parlia- 
ment would  soon  settle  everything.  .  .  .  That  he  is 
under  delusion  in  his  expectations,  I  cannot  yet  bring 
myself  to  doubt.  .  .  .  You  know  that  Earl  Grey  is  68 
this  day,  and  his  faithful  Treasurer  [Creevey]  64. 
1  reckon  it  a  great  honor  to  have  been  born  on  the 
same  day  of  the  year  with  him." 

"22nd. 
*'.  ,  .  Our  case  stands  thus.     Wood,  Lord  Gre3''s 
secretar}',  and  Wharnclifte  went   over  their   lists  of 
the  H.  of  Lords  yesterda}^  and  they  lay  down  as  law 
that  the  2nd  reading  will  be  carried  by — 12  !  " 

"Tower,  March  24th. 

".  .  .  Well,  the  Reform  Bill  closed  zvif/i  7/5  last 
night,  ...  I  have  been  drawing  on  the  bank  to-da}' 
in  favor  of  Cox  and  Greenwood  for  upwards  of 
;^5o,ooo.  Is  it  your  opinion  they  will  ever  get  as 
much  from  me  again  ?  My  opinion  is  they  will  jwt 
However,  if  I  lose  my  office,  I  shall  give  up  Downton, 
retire  into  the  country'',  and  write  memoirs." 

"  Bury  St.,  26th. 

".  .  .  The  Cabinet  met  yesterday  and  were  ujiani- 
moiis.  Thursday  week  was  to  be  f)roposed  for  the 
2nd  reading  in  the  Lords,  instead  of  this  day  week, 
because  in  the  interval  all  the  supplies  for  the  year 
can  be  voted,  and  if,  after  that,  the  2nd  reading  is 
rejected  or  outvoted — that  very  hour  Parliament  is  to 
be  prorogued,  and  peers  created  to  any  requisite 
amount." 

"27th, 

"...  I  am  in  much  better  heart  about  the  2nd 
reading  in  the  Lords.  Altho'  WharnclifTe  and  Har- 
rowby  have  few  or  no  followers,  yet  it  is  so  evidentl}^ 
fright  of  the  consequences  that  a  second   rejection  of 


1832-33J  LADY   GREY'S    PARTY.  S^S 

this  Bill  may  produce  that  influences  them  in  their 
present  course,  that  the  same  fright  has  very  naturally 
found  its  way  into  other  members  of  the  Tory  camp. 
.  .  .  Howick  told  me  his  father  [Lord  Grey]  had  this 
very  day  received  letters  from  six  Tory  peers  ex- 
pressing their  intentions  either  to  vote  for  the  2nd 
reading  or  to  stay  away,  and  thanking  Lord  Grey  for 
not  having  carried  this  Bill  by  a  nev^  creation  of 
Peers." 

"  April  2nd. 

'^  .  .  I  have  a  card  to  dine  with  Lord  Dudley  for 
this  day  week,  tho'  it  is  said  he  is  insane,  and  Halford 
told  Sefton  he  was  to  be  put  under  coercion  this  very 
day."  * 

"4th. 
"Well,  altho'  I  say  it  who  should  not,  I  really 
think  I  was  very  great  at  the  Earl  and  Countess 
Grey's  on  Saturday.  The  party  consisted  of  the  Duke 
and  Duchess  of  Sussex,  who  came  together  in  the 
same  carriage,  and  therefore  their  marriage  could  not 
be  more  distinctly  announced  ;t  Lord  and  Ly.  Cleve- 
land, Lord  and  Lady  Morley,  Lord  and  Lady  Pon- 
sonby.  General  and  Lady  Grey,  Bulteel  and  Lady 
Churchill,  Ellice,  Sydney  Smith  and  Mr.  Creevey.  As 
I  opened  the  door  for  the  ladies  when  they  left  the 
dining-room,  Lady  Cleveland  said  : — *  How  agreeable 
you  have  been  ! '  When  Lady  Grey  came  last,  she 
put  out  her  hand  and  said : — '  Oh  thank  you ! 
Mr.  Creevey ;  how  useful  you  have  been.'  Lady 
Georgiana  told  me  last  night  she  had  laughed  out  aloud 
in  bed  at  one  of  my  stories.  .  .  .  Such  is  my  evidence 
of  the  success  of  a  vain  old  man  !  .  .  .  I  don't  sup- 
pose there  could  be  a  stricter  or  more  cordial  friend- 
ship than  between  Lady  Morley  and  myself  She  has 
a  great  deal    of  natural   wagger}^,  with   overflowing 

*  Lord  Dudley  died  in  the  following  3'car. 

t  The  Duke  of  Sussex  married  Lady  Augusta  Murray,  daughter  of 
the  4th  Earl  of  Dunmore,  in  1793,  but  the  marriage  was  dissolved  in 
1794  as  being  contrary  to  the  Royal  Marriage  Act.  Lady  Augusta 
died  in  1830,  when  his  Royal  Highness  declared  his  marriage  with 
Lady  Cecilia,  ninth  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Arran,  and  widow  of  Sir 
George  Buggin. 


586  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXIII. 

spirits,  but  she  is  more  of  a  noisy  man  than  a  polished 
countess," 

"  17th. 

".  .  .  Albemarle  just  tells  me  he  has  seen  the 
King  often  since  the  event,  and  that  nothing  can  equal 
his  ecstacies.  He  justly  observes  *  it  is  such  a  load  off 
his  mind.'  He  never  slept  a  wink,  he  says,  on  Friday 
night  till  he  learnt  the  result.  To  be  sure,  he  ought 
to  be  pretty  grateful  to  the  jockey  who  rode  and  won 
the  race  for  him." 

The  jubilation  of  the  Reformers  was  brief  indeed. 
The  Bill,  indeed,  had  passed  the  second  reading  in 
the  Lords  on  6th  April  by  a  majority  of  nine,  but  this 
was  only  by  help  of  the  Tory  Lords  Wharncliffe  and 
Ilarrowby,  and  their  slender  following,  who  were 
known  by  the  ominous  title  of  the  Waverers.  Such 
a  majority  could  scarcely  impart  sufficient  momentum 
to  the  measure  to  carry  it  through  committee;  and,  in 
effect,  on  the  first  evening  after  the  Easter  recess,  the 
Government  were  beaten  on  Lord  Lyndhurst's  motion 
to  postpone  the  clauses  disfranchising  the  rotten 
boroughs. 

Thereupon,  on  8th  May,  Lord  Grey  advised  the 
King  to  create  so  many  peers  "  as  might  ensure  the 
success  of  the  Bill  in  all  its  essential  principles." 
King  William's  enthusiasm  for  the  measure  had 
greatly  cooled  since  the  second  reading;  he  refused 
to  take  the  step  recommended;  and  Lord  Grey  and 
his  colleagues  resigned  on  9th  May.  His  Majesty 
then  commissioned  the  Duke  of  Wellington  to  form 
an  administration.  The  Duke  undertook  to  do  so, 
on  the  understanding  that  he  should  bring  in  an 
extensive  measure  of  Reform  ;  but  he  utterly  failed 
in  the  attempt  to  get  Peel,  Baring,  and  others  to 
face   work   so  contrar}-   to   their  principles   and   past 


Tin:  rorxi'i'.ss  (iki:v  and    i wo  (  iiii.drilX. 

[To  face  p.  586. 


1S32-33.]  LORD    GREY   RESIGNS.  587 

professions.  In  the  end,  Lord  Grey  was  induced  to 
withdraw  his  resignation,  and  before  the  end  of  the 
month  a  fresh  Whig  Ministry  was  in  office. 


Mr.  Crccvcy  to  Miss  Orct 

"Bury  Street,  May  9th. 

".  .  .  Ladies,  I  have  lost  my  Tower !     Ccn  est  fait 
lie  nous  !     Dead  as  mutton,  every  man  John. of  us,  so 
help  me  Jingo  !    You  see,  after  our  defeat  in  the  Lords 
on  Monday,  a  Cabinet  was  summoned  for  that  night 
and  the  next  day.    The  result  was  Grey  and  Brougham 
going  down  to  Windsor  j^esterday  at  3  o'clock  to  ask 
the  King  to  create  a  sufficient  number  of  peers  in  order 
to  recover  their  ground  and  so  secure  the  Bill,  or,  if 
he   would   not  do  that,    to   accept   their   resignation. 
They   did    not  return   till   eleven ;    but  by  means  of 
my  faithful  and  active  enquirer,  Sefton,  who  got  to 
Crocky's  a  little  past  one,  I   found  it  was   all   over. 
The  King  had  not  even  preserved  his  usual  civility, 
had  shown-  strong  reluctance  to  the  proposition,  and 
concluded    by    saying    Lord    Grey    should   have   his 
answer  on  Thursday.     He  did  not  even  offer  the  poor 
fellows  any  victuals,  and  they  were  obliged  to  put  into 
port  at  the  George  posting-house  at  Hounslow,  and 
so   get   some   mutton   chops.  .   .    .    Sefton   was   with 
Brougham  a  little  after  nine  this  morning,  and  during 
his   stay  a   letter  came  from  Grey   to    B.    enclosing 
the  King's  letter  just  received,  in  which  his  Majesty 
accepts  their  resignation.     Let  me  not  fail  to  add  that 
Brougham,  on  liaving  read   it   out   aloud    to   Sefton, 
sprung  from  his  chair  and,  rubbing  his  hands,  declared 
that  it  was  the  happiest  moment  of  his  life !     I  dare- 
say, from  his  late  debility,  that  what  he  said  he  felt. 
.  .  .  Our  beloved  Billy  cuts  a  damnable  figure  in  this 
business,  because  he  is  clearly  influenced  by  our  defeat 
on  Monday.     He  permitted  the  Duke  of  Cumberland 
to  tell  his  friends  that  he  would  make  no  peers,  and 
then  the  rats  were  in  their  old  ranks  agam  at  once. 
All  that  /  have  to  hope  upon  this  occasion  is  that  there 
will  be  the  same  dawdling  in  making  out  my  successor's 
patent  as  there  was  in  making  out  mine.      I  regret 


588  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXIII. 

certainly  the  loss  of  position  and  of  doing  agreeable 
things  to  myself  with  my  official  resources  ;  but  it  was 
quite  an  unexpected  windfall  to  me,  has  lasted  much 
longer  than  I  expected,  and  the  recollection  of  the 
manner  in  which  it  fell  to  my  lot  will  always  be  most 
agreeable  to  me.  And  so  there's  an  end  of  the  busi- 
ness, and  it  will  never  affect  me  more." 

"Tower,  May  loth. 

".  .  .  Our  perfidious  Billy  was  the  outside  of 
graciosity  to  Lord  Grey  at  the  levee  yesterday,  and 
said  Geo.  the  2nd  could  not  have  felt  more  bitterly  at 
parting  from  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  nor  Geo.  the  3rd  at 
parting  with  Lord  North,  than  he  did  at  parting  with 
Lord  Grey.  Damned  easy  said,  was  it  not  ?  As  to 
our  Bruffam,  the  King  implored  him  three  times  over 
not  to  leave  him,  used  every  argument  to  convince 
him  that  he  was  not  bound  to  go  out,  and  that,  by 
remaining,  the  greatest  possible  publick  benefit  would 
accrue  to  the  country.  Brougham,  however,  had  no 
alternative  but  to  tell  him  that  it  was  most  distressing 
to  his  feelings  to  be  urged  to  separate  himself  from 
Lord  Grey,  with  whose  fate  his  own  was  irrevocably 
fix'd.  The  King  tried  his  hand,  too,  upon  the  Duke 
of  Richmond,  who  was  equally  firm.  .  ,  .  Upon  leaving 
the  Palace  on  his  return  to  Windsor,  Billy  got  rather 
roughly  treated  by  the  people,  both  at  his  own  door 
and  at  Hyde  Park  Corner  and  other  places." 

"  House  of  C,  i8th.    ' 

".  .  .  To-night  really  all  is  right.  If  you  doubt  it, 
take  Althorp's  communication  to  our  House,  viz, : — 
'  That  the  Government,  having  received  securities  for 
passing  the  Reform  Bill,  remain  his  Majesty's  Minis- 
ters during  pleasure.'  This  was  followed  by  a  most 
valuable  declaration  from  Peel  'that  he  never  would 
have  joined  the  late  attempted  administration  of  the 
Duke  of  Wellington.'  .  .  .  Grey  and  Reform  and  the 
Tozver  for  ever ! " 

'•'  26th. 
"  One  more  day  will  finish  the  concern  in  the  Lords, 
and  that  this  should  have  been  accomplished  as  it  has 


I832-33-]  THE    REFORM    BILL    PASSED.  589 

against  a  great  majority  of  peers,  and  without  making 
a  single  new  one,  must  always  remain  one  of  the 
greatest  miracles  in  English  history.  The  conqueror 
of  Waterloo  had  great  luck  on  that  day ;  so  he  had 
when  Marmont  made  a  false  move  at  Salamanca ;  but 
at  last  comes  his  own  false  move,  which  has  destroyed 
himself  and  his  Tory  high-flying  association  for  ever, 
which  has  passed  the  Reform  Bill  w^ithout  opposition. 
That  has  saved  the  country  from  confusion,  and  per- 
haps the  monarch  and  monarchy  from  destruction." 


"Tower,  June  2nd. 

",  .  .  In  the  House  of  Lords  yesterday  Grey,  accord- 
ing to  his  custom,  came  and  talked  with  me.  It  is 
really  too  much  to  see  his  happiness  at  its  being  all 
over  and  well  over.  He  dwells  upon  the  marvellous 
luck  of  Wellington's  false  move — upon  the  eternal 
difficulties  he  (Grey)  would  have  been  involved  in  had 
the  Opposition  not  brought  it  to  a  crisis  when  they 
did.  Their  blunder  he  conceives  to  have  been  their 
belief  that  he  would  not  resign  upon  this  defeat  on  an 
apparent  question  of  form.  Thank  God  !  they  did  not 
know  their  man." 

"June  5th. 

".  .  .  Thank  God !  I  was  in  at  the  death  of  this 
Conservative  plot,  and  the  triumph  of  our  Bill.  This 
is  the  third  great  event  of  my  life  at  which  I  have  been 
present,  and  in  each  of  which  I  have  been  to  a  certain 
extent  mixed  up — the  battle  of  Waterloo,  the  battle 
of  Queen  Caroline,  and  the  battle  of  Earl  Grey  and  the 
English  nation  for  the  Reform  Bill.  If  the  Conserva- 
tive press  is  aware  that  the  Master-in-Chancery  who 
carried  this  Bill  from  the  Lords  to  the  Commons  was 
our  Harry  Martin,  lineal  descendant  of  Harry  Martin 
the  regicide,  what  a  subject  it  will  be  for  them  to- 
morrow ! " 

"7th. 

".  .  .  The  Reform  Bill  passed  by  Commission — 
commissioners  Lords  Grey,  Brougham,  Durham,  Hol- 
land and  Wellesley," 


590  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXIII. 

'•  1 8th. 

".  .  .  How  do  you  think  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
has  been  treated  on  this  anniversary  of  the  battle  of 
Waterloo?  He  went  to  call  on  Wetherell  at  Lincoln's 
Inn  on  horseback,  and,  being  recognised,  so  large  a 
mob  assembled  there  and  shewed  such  very  bad 
temper  towards  him,  that  he  was  obliged  to  send  for 
the  police  to  protect  him  home,  and  he  did  accordingly 
return  in  the  centre  of  a  very  large  body  of  police  and 
a  mob  of  about  2000  people,  hooting  him  all  the  way."  * 

"Tower,  27th. 

*'.  ,  .  Grey  would  not  go  to  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton's last  night,  tho'  invited  to  meet  the  King ;  but  he 
had  an  audience  with  the  King  during  the  day  to 
apologise  for  so  doing.  Lady  Grey,  too,  was  at  the 
Opera,  instead  of  being  with  her  King  and  Queen. 
How  like  them  both!  and  yet  I  suppose  it  was  wrong." 

"Buxton,  Sept.  9th. 
"...  I  have  been  so  lucky  in  picking  up  a  play- 
fellow in  Lady  Wellesley.  She  sent  me  a  message 
that  she  wished  to  renew  her  acquaintance  with  me ; 
since  which  I  have  walked  for  an  hour  with  her  daily, 
and  in  my  life  I  never  found  a  more  agreeable  com- 
panion. She  always  asked  me  to  come  again  the  next 
day,  and  I  franked  all  her  letters  for  her.  Miss  Caton 
told  me  a  very  pleasant  saying  of  King  Billy  about 
Lady  Wellesley.  When  she  was  in  waiting  at 
Windsor,  some  one,  in  talking  of  Mrs.  Trollope's 
book,  said  : — '  Do  you  come  from  that  part  of  America 
where  they  "guess"  and  where  they  "calculate"?' — 

*  The  facts  were  not  exactly  as  reported  to  Mr.  Creevey.  The 
Duke  was  returning  from  the  Mint  when  the  mob  assembled.  Attempts 
were  made  in  Fenchurch  Street  to  drag  him  from  his  horse,  and  in 
Holborn  there  was  some  stone- throwing.  Four  policemen — two  on 
each  side  of  his  horse's  head — escorted  him  to  the  end  of  Chancery 
Lane,  down  which  the  Duke  turned  and  rode  to  Sir  Charles  Wetherell's 
chambers  in  Lincoln's  Inn.  The  gate  of  New  Street  Square  being 
closed  behind  him,  the  mob  was  kept  at  bay,  while  the  Duke  rode 
quietly  out  into  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  and  so  home  to  Apsley  House. 


I833-33-]         THE    END    OF   THE    OLD    ORDER.  59^ 

King  Billy  said  : — '  Lady  Wellesley  comes  from  where 
they  fascinate  / '"  * 

"  Stoke,  Nov.  4th. 

".  .  .  Here  arc  our  Greys  and  Talleyrand  and  the 
Dino.  .  .  .  What  an  idiot  I  am  never  to  have  made 
myself  a  Frenchman.  To  think  of  having  such  a  card 
as  this  old  villain  Talleyrand  so  often  within  one's 
reach,  and  yet  not  to  be  able  to  make  anything  of  it.  I 
play  my  accustomed  rubber  of  whist  with  him." 

Creevey's  retirement  from  Parliament  was  now 
imminent,  for  although  Lord  Radnor  and  other  friends 
were  anxious  to  find  him  a  seat,  and  many  proposals 
were  made  to  him,  things  could  not  be  so  snugly 
arranged  under  the  new  order  of  things  as  had  been 
possible  in  the  good  old  days  of  pocket  boroughs. 
Therefore,  Lord  Grey,  Lord  Scfton,  and  the  rest  of  his 
many  friends  in  the  party  now  in  power,  concerned 
themselves  to  find  him  a  comfortable  billet  outside 
Parliament. 

"  Brooks's,  Nov.  24th. 

"...  I  got  a  bothering,  long-winded  letter  from 
Wood,  stating  how  very  anxious  both  Lord  Grey  and 
Althorp  were  to  have  every  official  man  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  and,  in  short,  giving  me  a  very  in- 
telligible jog  or  hint  that  my  place  would  be  more 
usefully  filled  by  a  House  of  Commons  man ;  and  then 
a  place  for  life  was  offered  me  in  return  which  has 
just  become  vacant.  And  what  do  you  suppose  this 
place  was?  It  is  Receiver-General  of  the  Isle  of  Man 
— salary  ^^500  a  year — residence  in  the  said  romantic 
island  nuie  months  only  out  of  the  twelve.  ...  I  said 
the  Isle  ot  Man  as  a  piece  0/  /lufnoiir  was  everything 
I  could  wish,  and  I  could  only  treat  it  in  that  way; 
that  if  Lord  Grey  wanted  my  place  for  the  purpose 
of  strengthening    his    Government   in    the  House  of 

*  Lady  Wellesley  was  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Caton  of  Philadelphia, 
U.S.A. 


592  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXIII. 

Commons,  it  was  quite  at  his  disposal,  with  great 
obligations  on  my  part  for  his  manner  of  having  given 
it  me,  and  without  asking  for  any  terms  whatever." 


Earl  of  Scfton  to  Mr.  Creevcy. 

"  Nov.  24th. 

"  Dear  Creevey, 

"  I  have  been  at  work  for  3^ou  this  morning, 
and  am  much  satisfied  with  the  result.  Brougham 
says  you  cannot  be  left  in  the  lurch,  and  laughs  at  the 
Isle  of  Man.  Wood  says,  '  Very  well :  things  must 
remain  as  they  are  at  present,  and  we  must  try  and 
find  something  that  will  suit  him.'  Ellis  [?  Ellice]  was 
present :  they  both  volunteered  saying  you  had  the 
first  claim  oi  anybody ,  and  MUST  be  considered;  that 
even  if  you  had  no  place  now,  you  wd.  have  irresistible 
claims  both  on  party  and  private  grounds.  In  short, 
you  stand  as  well  as  possible,  if  you  don't  take  the 
romantic  line,  of  which  I  know  by  experience  you  are 
quite  capable." 


Mr.  Creevcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Bury  St.,  Nov.  28th. 
".  .  .  Sefton  said  he  did  not  wonder  that  I  would 
not  touch  the  Isle  of  Man,  but  it  was  the  only  thing 
they  had  then  to  offer,  and  that  the  applications  for  it 
were  endless." 

"  ist  Dec. 
".  .  .  Well,  here  goes  for  the  last  letter  I  shall  ever 
frank;  and  what  of  that?  We  shall  get  others  to  frank 
for  us,  and  Monday  will  be  the  last  day  I  shall  ever 
receive  a  letter  free,  except  at  the  Tower.*  Ah, 
Barry,  my  dear !  there's  the  rub — the  Tower,  the  dear 
Tower ;  how  long  shall  we  have  it  ?  " 

*  Members  of  Parliament  enjoyed  the  privilege,  not  only  of 
franking  letters,  but  of  receiving  them  without  paying  the  postage 
which  ordinary  recipients  had  to  do  to  the  tune  of  from  lOrt'.  to  is.  6d. 
according  to  distance. 


IS33-33-]  THE   REFORMED    PARLIAMENT.  593 

''Dec.  5th. 
''.  .  .  Lord  Grey  has  lost  that  one  front  tooth 
which  has  so  long  upheld  his  upper  lip;  but  his  face, 
tho'  altered  by  it,  is  much  less  so  than  I  should  have 
expected ;  and  his  voice  and  manner  of  speaking  not 
the  least  affected  by  it." 

Intense  curiosity  prevailed  as  to  the  appearance 
of  the  reformed  Parliament,  and  all  the  political 
memoirs  of  that  time  abound  with  impressions  there- 
of On  the  whole,  the  outward  change  was  much 
less  than  most  people  expected — at  least,  as  to  the 
class  of  members  returned.  The  position  of  parties, 
indeed,  was  of  startling  significance.  For  the  first 
time  in  the  history  of  Parliament  the  voice  of  the 
people  had  obtained  articulate  utterance,  and  its 
accents  were  a  stern  condemnation  and  rejection  of 
those  who  had  resisted  Reform.  The  new  House  of 
Commons  contained  but  149  Tories  against  509  Whigs 
and  Liberals  ;  but  some  of  the  extreme  men  who  were 
returned  found  their  level,  much  to  their  own  surprise 
and  those  of  their  friends,  considerably  lower  than 
they  had  anticipated.  Such  is  the  mysterious  but 
irresistible  atmosphere  of  the  House  of  Commons  in 
all  ages. 

Mr.  Crccvcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"Feby.  2nd,  1833. 

".  .  .  The  start  the  other  day  was  most  favorable 
for  the  Government.  Hume  boasted  beforehand  that 
he  was  sure  of  100  followers;  so  that  31  only  was 
a  woful  falling  ott.  It  seems  to  be  put  beyond  all 
doubt  that  Cobbett  can  do  nothing.  His  voice  and 
manner  of  speaking  are  tiresome,  in  addition  to  which 
his  language  is  blackguard  beyond  anything  one  ever 
heard  of     O'Connell,  too,  was  disgustingly  coarse." 


594  THE   CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXIII. 


"  9th. 

".  ,  .  It  is  made  perfectly  manifest  by  their  first 
vote  that  the  Reformed  Parliament  is  not  a  Radical 
one,  when  Joe  Hume  and  the  Rt.  Honble.  Tennyson 
and  all  the  O'Connells  and  all  the  Repealers,  with 
Cobbett  to  boot,  could  only  muster  40  against  400!" 

"  Tower,  Feby.  28th,  1833. 

".  .  .  What  say  you  to  the  Duchesse  de  Berri's 
approaching  accouchement  ?  Young  Bourmont  is  said 
to  be  the  lucky  lover.  What  a  termination  to  all  her 
heroism  to  save  the  Crown  of  France  for  her  son  ! 
It  is  really  too  ridiculous :  just  the  event  to  close  the 
career  of  the  Carlists." 

"March  14. 

"  There  has  been  most  stormy  work  in  the  Cabinet 
for  some  time,  and  it  has  been  with  the  greatest 
difficulty  Grey  and  Althorp  have  submitted  to 
Stanley's  obstinacy  about  Irish  tithes.  The  more 
violent  Lambton  I  dare  say  would  not  submit,  and  he 
retires  with  an  earldom,  to  cure  his  headaches,  of 
course.  What  pretty  physic!  How  delighted  his 
colleagues  must  be  that  he  is  gone,  for  there  never 
was  such  a  disagreeable,  overbearing  devil  to  bear 
with  in  a  Cabinet.  .  .  ." 

"April  loth. 

"  How  are  you  all  as  to  Influenza  ?  Here  it  spares 
no  one — man,  woman,  or  child,  and  it  is  a  decided 
epidemic.  I  can  scarcely  see  out  of  my  eyes  for  it  at 
this  moment.  .  .  ." 

"April  15th. 

"There  is  an  unfavourable  account  of  Charles 
Grenfell,  who  is  laid  up  at  Stoke  with  this  influenza. 
My  lord  and  my  lady  [Sefton]  arrived  between  9  and 
10  from  Stoke  on  purpose  to  see  Taglioni  dance,  but 
she  was  in  bed  with  this  complaint.  There  are 
seventeen  servants  at  Stoke  laid  up  with  it,  not  one  of 
whom  can  do  a  stroke  of  work." 


1832-33]       AFFAIRS    IN    ARLINGTON    STREET.  595 

"  1 8th. 

".  .  .  Sefton  is  seriously  annoyed  at  the  terrible 
state  in  which  Lord  Foley's  family  have  been  left. 
They  have  been  literally  without  bread  of  late.  The 
present  young  lord,  who  is  excellent,  was  induced  b}^ 
his  father  to  make  himself  answerable  for  his  father's 
debts,  and  'will  not  have  a  farthing  left.  She  has  a 
jointure  of ^^2, 500  a  year,  and  the  younger  children 
(7  in  number)  have  ;^30,ooo  amongst  them.  The 
family  estate  was  ;^40,ooo  a  year,  all  of  which  is 
either  gone,  or  must  go.  Was  there  ever  such 
wickedness  ?  " 

"  May  20th. 

".  .  .  There  is  the  greatest  fuss  about  the  turn-out 
at  Sefton's  to-day.  I  don't  know  if  you  remember  a 
picture  of  Charles  X.  in  the  dining-room,  sent  to  the 
Sefton's  by  the  King  himself  The  Dino  says  it  is 
absolutely  impossible  that  the  Due  d'Orleans  can  sit 
opposite  that  picture  at  dinner,  and  yet  says  that,  in 
the  situation  of  the  Seftons,  she  would  die  rather  than 
it  should  be  taken  away ;  so  all  she  prays  of  them  is 
that  it  may  not  be  in  the  dining-room." 

"25th. 

".  .  .  Would  you  believe  it,  that  cursed  Berkeley  * 
has  gone  and  married  the  woman  he  lived  with,  after 
his  father  behaving  so  beautifully  as  he  did  upon 
what  he  was  led  to  consider  their  separation  for  ever. 
He  settled  ^200  a  year  for  life  upon  her,  ;^ioo  upon 
the  child,  and  all  their  debts  paid ;  and  yet,  the  day 
before  yesterday,  this  colonel  had  the  grace  to 
announce  to  his  father  by  letter  from  Gloucester  that 
he  is  married,  and  that  £600  is  absolutely  necessary 
to  free  him  from  fresh  difficulties.  Sefton  told  me  he 
would  have  nothing  to  reproach  himself  for  to  the  last, 
and  he  has  sent  him  this  ;^6oo.  ...  I  think  for  the 
purchase  of  the  Lieut.  Colonelcy  of  the  8th  Hussars 
Sefton  gave  ;^i  1,000.  I  never  could  tell  why,  but  he 
was  certainly  Sefton's  favorite  son,  and   a  charming 

*  Lieut.-Colonel  the  Hon.  George  Berkeley  Molyneux,  2nd  son  of 
the  2nd  Earl  of  Sefton.  In  Burke's  Peerage  Colonel  Molynciix's 
marriaee  with  Mrs.  Eliza  Stuart  is  dated  1824. 


596  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXIII. 

return  he  has  made  him.  .  .  .  Yesterday  I  dined  at 
Stanley's.  Mr.  Macaulay  and  Mr.  Gordon  were  the 
only  performers  after  dinner,  and  two  more  noisy 
vulgar  fellows  I  never  saw.  Fitzroy  Somerset, 
Kempt,  McDonald  and  I  settled  them  between  our- 
selves afterwards." 

"June  1st. 

"...  I  had  a  great  deal  of  Duncannon's  two  eldest 
daughters  [at  Lady  Grey's  party].  Lord  Kerr}'^^  was 
in  close  attendance  upon  the  second,  as  it  is  said  he 
always  is,  and  I  trust  he  \v\\\  marr3^  her."  * 

"Tower,  June  12. 

"  I  begin  here,  not  from  having  anything  to  write 
about,  but  from  pure  affection  to  the  spot.  As  soon 
as  I  see  my  four  turrets  come  in  view  when  I  turn 
into  Tower  Street,  I  think  what  agreeable  companions 
they  have  been  to  me,  and  I  always  hope  they  may 
continue  so  for  a  /it^/c  longer. 

"  Here's  the  bower,  the  darling  Tower, 
The  Tower  that  Rufus  planted  ; 
Dear  Norman  King  !  'twas  just  the  thing— 
The  thing  that  Creevey  wanted. 

**  I'll  tell  you  one  project  I  wish  my  Tower  to  carry 
into  execution  for  me.  I  have  set  my  heart  upon  our 
all  going  to  the  Menai  Bridge  in  the  autumn.  My 
allowance  for  going  to  Ireland  gives  me  one  pair  of 
horses,  and  my  place  will  easily  give  the  leaders.  So 
think  of  it,  ladies,  and  gratify  me  by  saying  it  shall  be 
done,  and  it  shall  be  called  '  the  Treat  of  the  Tower.' 
.  .  .  Our  dinner  in  Arlington  Street  was  quite  as  gay 
as  if  Berkeley  had  not  disgraced  himself  as  he  has 
done — the  Manvers's,  George  Ansons  and  de  Ros's, 
with  the  usual  list  of  dandies  and  swindlers  (D'Orsay 
included)." 

"iSth. 

".  .  .  We  had  a  capital  assembly  at  Lady  Grey's, 
and  I  collectedclearly  that  we  are  not  going  to  resign, 
let  the  majority  in  the  Lords  against  our  Irish  Church 

*  He  did  so  within  a  year. 


iS3:!-33-]  MISS    BERRY'S    DINNER-PARTY.  597 

Reform  Bill  be  what  it  may  ;  so  that  is  all  as  it  should 
be.  The  great  stumbling-block  before  us  is — will  the 
Lords  consent  to  the  future  reduction  of  the  Irish 
Bishops.  It  is  a  bitter  pill  for  them  to  swallow :  I 
don't  see  how  the  English  Bishops  are  to  stand  it ; 
and  yet  I  am  perfectly  convinced  that  if  that  bill  is 
flung  out  in  the  Lords,  the  present  House  of  Commons, 
either  in  this  very  session  or  the  next,  will  commence 
operations  for  dislodging  the  Bishops  from  the  H.  of 
Lords  altogether  ;  and  eventually  they  must  succeed." 

"  19th. 
"...  I  met  Brougham  at  dinner  yesterday  at  Miss 
Berry's,  and  a  most  agreeable  dinner  we  had.  In 
addition  to  Brougham — Sydney  Smith,  Ld.  and  L}-. 
Lyttelton,  Ly.  Charlotte  Lindsay,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stan- 
ley (the  member  for  Cheshire).  She  is  a  person 
greatly  admired,  a  daughter  of  the  late  Lord  Dillon. 
Ly.  Lyttelton,  you  know,  is  a  sister  of  Althorp's,  and 
seemed  quite  as  worthy,  and  in  her  dress  as  homely  as 
he,  tho'  the  Berry  told  me  she  was  very  highly  accom- 
plished. It  was  shortly  after  I  came  into  Parliament 
that  Ward*  and  Lyttelton t  came  into  the  H.  of 
Commons,  each  with  great  academical  fame  and  every 
prospect  of  being  distinguished  public  men.  Poor 
Ward,  with  all  his  acquirements  and  talents,  made 
little^  of  it,  went  mad  and  died.  Lyttelton  having 
married,  and  being  very  poor,  could  not  afford  to 
continue  in  Parliament;  and  tho' he  wanted  little  to 
enable  him  to  do  so,  the  meanness  of  Lord  Spencer 
would  not  supply  him  with  it,  and  he  has  been  an 
exile  almost  ever  since.  Tho'  grown  very  grey  for 
his  age,  he  is  as  lively  and  charming  a  companion  as 
the  town  can  produce,  and  they  are  said  to  be  the 
happiest  couple  in  the  world." 

"  20th, 

"...  I    have  just  heard   from  Tavistock,  who   is 

undoubted  authority,  that  we  have  agreed  to  modify 

the  clause  in   our  Church  Reform  Bill  which  was  so 

offensive  to  the  Lords,  with  the  understanding  that 

'"  Afterwards  1st  Earl  of  Dudley, 
t  Third  Lord  Lyttelton. 


59^  THE    CREEVEY    PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXIII. 

they  are  not  to  oppose  the  Bill.  The  consequence  of 
this  must  necessarily  be  that,  when  the*  fight  does 
come  (and  come  it  must,  sooner  or  later)  the  Govern- 
ment will  have  so  much  less  sympathy  and  support 
because  of  this  surrender.  However,  if  the  Toiver 
does  but  float  till  next  session  of  Parliament,  it  is 
much  more  than  ever  I  expected!  " 

"  July  6th. 
"  1  met  Lady  Holland  again  on  Thursday  at  Lord 
Scfton's.  She  began  by  complaining  of  the  slipperi- 
ness  of  the  courtyard,  and  of  the  danger  of  her  horses 
falling ;  to  which  Sefton  replied  that  it  should  be 
gravelled  the  next  time  she  did  him  the  honor  of 
dining  there.  She  then  began  to  sniff,  and,  turning 
her  eyes  to  various  pots  filled  with  beautiful  roses 
and  all  kinds  of  flowers,  she  said  : — '  Lord  Sefton,  I 
must  beg  you  to  have  those  flowers  taken  out  of  the 
room,  they  are  so  much  too  powerful  for  me.' — Sefton 
and  his  valet  Paoli  actually  carried  the  table  and  all 
its  contents  out  of  the  room.  Then  poor  dear  little 
Ly.  Sefton,  who  has  always  a  posy  as  large  as  life  at 
her  breast  when  she  is  dressed,  took  it  out  in  the 
humblest  manner,  and  said  : — 'Perhaps,  Lady  Holland, 
this  nosegay  may  be  too  much  for  you.'— But  the 
other  was  pleased  to  allow  her  to  keep  it,  tho'  b}' 
no  means  in  a  ver}^  gracious  manner.  Then  when 
candles  were  lighted  at  the  close  of  dinner,  she  would 
have  three  of  them  put  out,  as  being  too  much  and  too 
near  her.     Was  there  ever  ?  " 

"  Denbies,  15th. 
".  .  .  This  spot  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  I 
know.  ...  I  am  in  the  second  volume  of  poor 
Roscoe's  Lorenzo  de  Medici.  I  read  his  Leo  three  or 
four  years  ago  with  great  pleasure,  and  the  present 
book  with  encreased  delight.  1  can  scarcely  conceive 
a  greater  miracle  than  Roscoe's  history— that  a  man 
whose  dialect  was  that  of  a  barbarian,  and  from  whom, 
in  3^ears  of  familiar  intercourse,  I  never  heard  above 
an  average  observation,  whose  parents  were  servants 
(whom  1  well  remember  keeping  a  public  house), 
whose  profession  was  that  of  an  attorne}',  who  had 


LADV    HOLLAND. 


{To  face  p.  59 


1832-33-]  ROSCOE  AS   HISTORIAN.  599 

never  been  out  of  England  and  scarcely  out  of  Liver- 
pool— that  such  a  man  should  undertake  to  write  the 
history  of  the  14th  and  15th  centuries,  the  revival  of 
Greek  and  Roman  learning  and  the  formation  of  the 
Italian  [illegible] — that  such  a  history  should  be  to  the 
full  as  polished  in  style  as  that  of  Gibbon,  and  much 
more  simple  and  perspicuous — that  the  facts  of  this 
history  should  be  all  substantiated  by  references  to 
authorities  in  other  languages,  with  frequent  and 
beautiful  translations  from  them  by  himself — is  really 
too  !  Then  the  subject  is  to  my  mind  the  most  capti- 
vating possible  :  one's  only  regret  is  that  poor  Roscoe, 
after  writing  this  beautiful  history  of  his  brother 
bankers  the  Medici,  should  not  have  imitated  their 
prudence,  and  by  such  means  have  escaped  appearing 
in  that  profane  literary  work,  the  Gazette  !  Oh  dear  ! 
what  a  winding  up  for  his  fame  at  last ! " 

«i7th. 
'".  .  .  You  must  know  that  for  months  past  I  have 
been  firing  into  Ellice,  and  through  him  into  Durham, 
for  their  joint  patronage  of  Barnes,  the  editor  of  the 
Times  newspaper;  being  convinced  that  the  vindictive 
articles  in  that  paper  against  Lord  Grey  were  written 
or  dictated  by  Durham,  .  .  .  On  Sunday  I  found  that 
Lambton  and  Ellice  have  recently  become  at  daggers 
drawn,  and  Ellice  told  me  he  had  received  such  a  letter 
of  abuse  from  him  in  the  Isle  of  Wi^ht  as  had  never 
been  penned.  The  subject  was  nothmg  less  than  that 
he — Lord  Durham — was  going  to  ivithdrazv  his  proxy 
from  the  support  of  Ld.  Grey  and  his  Government. 
Ellice  admitted  the  connection  between  Durham  and 
Barnes,  and  that  the  communications  between  them 
had  been  carried  on  by  Lord  Dover,  just  deceased. 
The  said  Durham,  according  to  Ellice,  is  now  Prime 
Minister  to  the  Duchess  of  Kent  and  Queen  Victoria, 
and  they  are  getting  up  all  their  arrangements  together 
in  the  Isle  of  Wight  for  a  new  reign  !  You  may 
remember  that  Durham  was  King  Leopold's  *  right 
hand  man  when  he  was  going  to  be  King  of  Greece — 
drew  all  his  State  papers  for  him,  and  has  always 
been  his  bottle-holder  ever  since.     So  nothing  is  more 

•  King  of  the  Belgians:  brother  of  the  Duchess  of  Kent. 

2   S 


600  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXIII. 

likely    than    his    becoming    first    favorite    with    the 
Duchess  of  Kent  and  Victoria  in  a  new  reign." 

*'3ist. 
"Well,  you  see  with  what  flying  colours  we 
finished  our  Irish  Church  Bill  last  night.  A  great 
body  of  the  Tories  are  absolutely  furious  with  the 
Beau — for  what  wd.  you  suppose  ?  as  two  of  them 
told  me  to  my  own  self— /or  wani  of  pluck  !  "  * 

"  August  7th. 

".  .  .  As  I  was  walking  in  the  streets,  Lady  Ciss, 
or  Princess  Ciss,  passed  me  in  her  carriage,  and 
immediately  pulled  up.  She  wished  to  know  if  I  was 
disengaged,  as  the  Duke  [of  Sussex]  and  she  were 
going  to  dine  quite  alone,  and  they  would  be  delighted 
if  I  would  join  them.  Affable,  was  it  not  ?  in  a  royal 
dame." 

Many  and  scathing  had  been  Creevey's  utterances 
and  the  expressions  in  his  correspondence  in  derision 
of  monarchs  and  monarchical  institutions ;  but  time 
and  the  sweets  of  office  had  done  much  to  mitigate 
the  democratic  ardour  of  the  former  "  Man  of  the 
Mountain."  The  crowning  touch  to  his  reconciliation 
with  the  Head  of  the  Constitution  as  it  was,  was  put 
by  the  hand  of  King  William  himself. 

"  Brooks's,  August  9th. 

"  My  dinner  yesterday  with  my  beloved  Sovereign 
was  everything  I  could  wish,  and  more,  indeed,  than 
I  had  a  right  to  expect.  Jemmy  Kempt,  according  to 
my  request,  sent  his  carriage  for  me  after  it  had  set 
him  down  at  the  Palace.  My  only  very  little  doubt 
was  whether  I  should  not  have  gone  in  shorts  and 
silk  stockings  instead  of  trowsers ;  and  if  I  had,  I 
should  have  been  the  only  man  in  shorts  in  the  room ; 
so  that,  you  know,  was  very  well. 

*  The  Duke  of  Wellington  disgusted  his  Tory  followers  by  speak- 
ing and  voting  for  the  second  reading  of  the  Government's  Bill  for 
regulating  the  Protestant  Church  of  Ireland. 


1832-33-]  KING   WILLIAM'S   LEVEE.  601 

"Well,  after  our  being  all  assembled  near  half  an 
hour,  the  doors  were  flung  open,  and  in  entered  Billy, 
accompanied  by  his  household  ;  and,  having  advanced 
singly  into  the  middle  of  the  room,  the  company 
formed  a  great  circle  around  him.  As  I  was  not  very 
anxious  to  attract  his  attention  after  all  my  sins 
against  him,*  I  placed  myself  in  the  2nd  row  of  the 
circle.  The  first  thing  he  did  was  to  call  Sir  James 
Kempt  t  to  him  as  his  bottle-holder  for  the  occasion. 
I  then  heard  him  say  to  him  : — '  There  are  two  officers 
in  the  room  who  have  never  been  presented  to  me' 
(then  mentioning  their  names  which  I  did  not  hear), 
'bring  them  here  to  me.'  So  accordingly  the  two 
officers  were  conducted  into  the  centre  of  the  circle, 
dropt  upon  their  marrow-bones,  and  kissed  hands. 

"  Our  beloved  then  said  something  else  to  Kempt 
which  I  could  not  hear ;  but  the  General  immediately 
looked  about  with  all  his  eyes  for  his  man ;  and  I  am 
sure  you  will  all  partake  of  Nummy's  t  surprise  when 
Kempt,  having  discovered  me,  said : — '  Creevey,  the 
King  wishes  to  speak  to  you  ;'  and  I  was  conducted 
likewise  into  the  middle  of  the  circle.  Then  the  King, 
in  the  prettiest  manner,  said  : — '  Mr.  Creevey,  how 
d'ye  do?  I  hope  3^ou  are  quite  well.  It  is  a  long 
time  since  I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you.  Where 
do  you  reside,  Mr.  Creevey?'  Now,  would  you 
believe  it  ?  this  was  the  only  thing  of  the  kind  that 
took  place.  After  this  he  went  a  little  round  the 
circle,  talking  to  officers.  I  heard  him  ask  General 
Bingham  where  he  had  lost  his  arm,  and  such  kind  of 
things. 

"  My  Scotch  master,  Jemmy,§  was  so  touched  with 
the  King's  civility  to  m3'Self  that  he  came  afterwards 
to  me  and  said : — '  Upon  my  soul,  Creevey,  after  the 
King's  gracious  behaviour  to  you  to-day,  you  mttsf 
come  to  the  next  levee ;  for  you  never  do  go,  and  he 

*  Creevey,  as  a  Radical  member,  had  not  been  accustomed  to 
speak  respectfully  of  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  and  had  voted  steadily 
against  the  royal  grants. 

t  General  the  Right  Hon.  Sir  James  Kempt  [1764-1854],  com- 
manded the  8th  Brigade  at  Waterloo. 

+  One  of  Crecvey's  pet  names  in  his  family. 

§  Speaker  Abcrcromby. 


662  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXIII. 

has  often  asked  me  after  you.*  Can  you  solve  this 
behaviour  to  me?  Was  it  a  reproach  for  never  doing 
my  duty  in  waiting  on  my  Sovereign  ?  or  does  he 
think  I  have  any  scruples  at  coming  near  him  after 
my  behaviour  to  him  and  his  brothers,  and  that  he 
wishes  to  remove  them  ?  At  all  events,  I  consider  it 
as  most  curious,  and  as  long  as  my  Royal  Master  lives, 
and  I  live  to  wear  my  present  uniform  coat,  he  shall 
inever  have  to  say  that  I  absent  myself  from  his  levee, 
[whether  in  or  out  of  office.  .  .  .  I  had  a  most  agreeable 
dinner.  To  be  sure,  the  King's  speeches,  and  the 
jlength  of  each,  were  beyond ;  but  he  is  so  totally 
/unlike  what  we  remember  him — not  a  single  joke  or 
attempt  at  any  merriment — as  grave  as  a  judge  in 
everything  he  does,  and  as  if  he  took  a  sincere  interest 
in  all  he  was  saying — in  short,  he  made  himself  a  real 
;^f?/of  mine.  .  .  .  When  I  told  Brougham,  whom  I  sat 
next  at  Althorp's  at  dinner  on  Saturday,  of  the  King's 
speech  to  me,  he  said  it  was  the  image  of  him  as  the 
best-natured  and  kindest-hearted  man  in  the  world, 
and  that  it  was  clearly  meant  to  show  me  that  he  had 
no  resentment  or  recollection,  even,  of  any  former 
personal  hostilities  from  me,  and  that  I  had  no  occasion 
to  avoid  him.  What  the  opinion  of  so  sincere  a  creature 
as  B.  is  worth  is  one  thing ;  but  I  really  think  one 
can't  find  out  another  meaning  for  Billy's  conduct.  If 
it  is  the  real  one,  never  was  a  Sovereign  so  kind  and 
condescending." 

«i5tb. 
"The  Earl  [of  Sefton]  called  and  took  me  to  the 
levee  yesterday  in  his  fat  London  coach,  sitting  with 
his  back  to  the  horses,  and  giving  Mr.  Treasurer  the 
post  of  honor,  and  so  home  again  to  Mrs.  Durham's  * 
great  delight.  My  Sovereign  only  said  : — *  How  d'ye 
do,  Mr,  Creevey  ?  ' — I  did  not  expect  more.  It  was  a 
very  slender  levee,  but  I  had  an  agreeable  playfellow 
in  Lord  Grosvenor,  ci-devant  Belgrave,t  and  Lord  Grey 
came  to  me  just  after  I  had  passed  the  King,  saying 
in  his  prettiest  manner : — '  Creevey,  I  have  not  seen 
you  for  an  age ! '  " 

•  Creevey's  landlady. 

t  Aftenvards  2nd  Marquess  of  Westminster. 


(    603    ) 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Mr.  Crecvcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"Stoke,  August  igtli,  1833. 

"Brougham,  Plunket,  Chas.  Greville  and  Sefton 
have  gone  to  town,  and  I  am  to  entertain  Lord  John, 
Russell  who  stays  to  dinner  to-morrow.  I  am  just 
going  to  ride  with  him  and  the  ladies  ;  and,  by  Sefton's 
desire,  to  write  my  name  at  the  Castle  [Windsor].; 
Next  Wednesday  is  the  King's  birthday,  when  there 
is  a  great  dinner  there.  The  Seftons  have  got  their 
invitation ;  so  we  shall  see  if  I  am  equally  successful 
in  my  meanness.  Don't  you  think  I  am  become  too 
great  a  toady  of  Royalty  ?  " 

"Tower,  31st. 

"...  I  am  reading  the  newly  published  corre- 
spondence between  Horace  Walpole  and  Sir  Horace 
Mann,  his  earliest  friend  and  Minister  at  Florence. 
Considering  who  the  writer  was,  and  his  position,  the 
book  can't  lail  of  being  interesting — very — but  he  is  a 
trifling  chap  after  all.  .  .  ." 

Lady  Louisa  Molynciix  to  Mr.  Crecvey. 

"Stoke,  Sept.  3,  1S33. 

".  .  .  We  do  not  hear  much  of  cholera  in  this  neigh- 
bourhood, but  all  the  sherry  in  the  cellar  is  drunk, 
and  Reeves  has  been  obliged  to  ask  for  a  fresh  supply; 
he  cannot  get  people  to  drink  his  French  wines,  entirely 
from  fear  of  cholera.  .  .  ." 


604  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Cll.  XXIV. 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"Stoke,  Sept.  5th. 

"...  I  have  for  the  first  time  boarded  an  omnibus, 
and  it  is  really  charming.  I  quite  long  to  go  back  in 
one  to  Piccadilly.  .  .  .  Monday  brought  all  Europe 
under  our  humble  roof  at  Stoke — at  least  the  great 
powers  of  it  by  their  representatives.  There  was 
England  zvell  represented  by  Earl  Grey,  with  my 
lady,  Ly.  Georgianaand  Charles;  France  by  Talleyrand 
and  the  Dino ;  Russia  by  the  Prince  and  Princess 
Lieven ;  Austria  by  Esterhazy,  with  the  addition  of 
Weissenberg,  the  Austrian  delegate  to  the  Conference  ; 
and  Prussia  by  Bulow.  But  the  female  Lieven  and 
the  Dino  were  the  people  for  sport.  They  are  both 
professional  talkers — artists  quite,  in  that  department, 
and  the  Dino  jealous  to  a  degree  of  the  other.  We  had 
them  both  quite  at  their  ease,  and  perpetually  at  work 
with  each  other ;  but  the  Lieven  for  my  money !  She 
has  more  dignity  and  the  other  more  grimace.  .  .  . 
The  Greys  had  just  come  from  Windsor  Castle.  Lady 
Grey,  in  her  own  distressed  manner,  said  she  was  really 
more  dead  than  alive.  She  said  all  the  boring  she 
had  ever  endured  before  was  literally  nothing  com- 
pared with  her  misery  of  the  two  preceding  nights. 
She  hoped  she  never  should  see  a  mahogany  table 
again,  she  was  so  tired  with  the  one  that  the  Queen 
and  the  King,  the  Duchess  of  Gloucester,  Princess 
Augusta,  Madame  Lieven  and  herself  had  sat  round 
for  hours — the  Queen  knitting  or  netting  a  purse — the 
King  sleeping,  and  occasionally  waking  for  the  pur- 
pose of  saying  : — '  Exactly  so,  ma'am!'  and  then  sleep- 
ing again.  The  Queen  was  cold  as  ice  to  Lady  Grey, 
till  the  moment  she  came  away,  when  she  could  afford 
to  be  a  little  civil  at  getting  quit  of  her.  ... 

"  We  asked  Lord  Grey  how  he  had  passed  his 
evening:  'I  played  at  whist,'  said  he,  'and  what  is 
more,  I  won  £2,  which  I  never  did  before.  Then  I 
had  very  good  fun  at  Sir  Henry  Halford's  expense. 
You  know  he  is  the  damnedest  conceited  fellow  in  the 
world,  and  prides  himself  above  all  upon  his  scholar- 
ship— upon  being  what  you  call  an  elegant  scholar; 
so  he  would  repeat  to  me  a  very  long  train  of  Greek 


1833-]  THE   COURT  AT  WINDSOR.  605 

verses ;  and,  not  content  with  that,  he  would  give  me 
a  translation  of  them  into  Latin  verses  by  himself. 
So  when  he  had  done,  I  said  that,  as  to  the  first,  my 
Greek  was  too  far  gone  for  me  to  form  a  judgment  of 
them,  but  according  to  my  own  notion  the  Latin  verses 
were  very  good.  "But,"  said  I,  "there  is  a  much 
better  judge  than  myself  to  appeal  to,"  pointing  to 
Goodall,  the  Provost  of  Eton.  "  Let  us  call  him  in." 
So  we  did,  and  the  puppy  repeated  his  own  pro- 
duction with  more  conceit  than  ever,  till  he  reached 
the  last  line,  when  the  old  pedagogue  reel'd  back  as  if 
he  had  been  shot,  exclaiming: — "That  word  is  long^ 
and  you  have  made  it  sJiort !" — Halford  turned  abso- 
lutely scarlet  at  this  detection  of  his  false  quantity. 
"You  ought  to  be  whipped,  Sir  Henry,"  said  Goodall, 
^'you  ought  to  be  whipped  for  such  a  mistake."'  .  .  , 
At  dinner  Lady  Grey  sat  between  Talleyrand  and 
Esterhazy.  I,  at  some  little  distance,  commanded  a 
full  view  of  her  face,  and  was  sure  of  her  thoughts ; 
for,  as  you  know,  she  hates  Talleyrand,  and  he  was 
making  the  cursedest  nasty  noises  in  his  throat." 

Lady  Louisa  Molynenx  to  Mr.  Crcevey  [in  Ireland]. 

"  Stoke,  Oct.  30th. 

",  .  .  There  never  was  such  weather;  we  are  sit- 
ting with  open  windows,  blinds  down,  and  old  Lady 
Salisbury  is  reading  out  of  doors  as  if  it  was  the 
middle  of  July.  She  is  more  youthful  than  ever,  and 
leaves  us  to-morrow  to  be  at  the  Berkhampstead  ball, 
which  she  attends  annually.  She  had  better  go  to 
Portugal  and  assist  Miguel,  for  she  makes  a  better 
fight  for  him  than  any  of  his  adherents.  .  .  .  Poor 
Alava  writes  in  great  uneasiness  about  his  patrie,  but 
does  not  forget  to  finish  his  letter  with  niit/c  choses 
a  toutc  la  famillc  ct  a  Crccvcy.  .  .  .  Olivia  de  Ros's 
marriage*  was  a  grand  ceremony,  the  chapelt  hung 
with  crimson  velvet,  the  bride  dressed  by  the  Queen, 
the  parish  register  signed  by  the  King,  the  Queen  and 
Duke  of  Wellington  ;  quantities  of  royal  presents,  &c. 

*  To  the   Hon.   Henry  Wellcsley,  who   succeeded  his  father   as 
Lord  Cowley,  and  was  created  Earl  Cowley, 
t  St.  George's,  Windsor. 


6o6  THE   CREEVEY  PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXIV. 

.  .  .  The  Stanleys  have  been  here  for  a  day.  He* 
made  himself  tolerably  agreeable,  except  in  his  ex- 
treme flippancy  to  Lord  Melbourne." 

Mr.  Crccvey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Besborough,  Nov.  3rd. 
"...  I  wish  to  record  a  point  or  two  of  political 
history  not  generally  known.  When  Lord  Grey 
determined  upon  beginning  his  administration  by  a 
reform  in  Parliament,  he  named  Lord  Durham,  Lord 
John  Russell,  Lord  Duncannon  and  Sir  James  Graham 
as  the  persons  to  prepare  a  bill  for  that  purpose ;  and 
they  did  prepare  the  bill,  of  which  Lord  Grey  knew 
not  one  syllable  till  it  was  presented  to  him  all  ready, 
cut  and  dry.  When  he  had  read  it,  he  shrugged  up 
his  shoulders,  and  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  King 
would  never  stand  it.  However,  upon  his  taking  it  to 
Brighton  the  King  showed  no  decided  hostility  to  it ; 
and,  as  we  know,  Lo}^d  Greys  measure  of  Reform  was 
ultimately  carried.  It  was  towards  the  conclusion  of 
the  labors  of  this  committee  of  four  that  Ld.  Durham's 
anger  became  first  excited.  Lord  Grey,  to  please  the 
Duke  of  Richmond,  added  him  to  the  four  other  com- 
mittee-men ;  a  step  that  in  itself  gave  great  umbrage 
to  Durham.  From  that  day  forth,  he  and  the  Duke 
fought  like  cat  and  dog.  The  next  thorn  in  Durham's 
side  was  Stanley.  They  were  always  opposed  to 
each  other  upon  Church  matters ;  and  when  the 
Church  Bill  of  the  latter  was  brought  forward  last 
session,  Durham  addressed  to  the  Cabinet  his  stric- 
tures thereon  (and  very  able  and  severe  they  were) 
accompanied  by  a  complaint  that  he — Durham — had 
not  been  consulted.  These  the  Cabinet  forwarded  to 
Stanley  without  observations  (was  there  ever  such 
child's  play  ?).  Stanley  was  equally  fierce  in  reply.  .  .  . 
At  a  Cabinet  dinner  shortly  after,  this  hitherto  latent 
fire  came  to  a  blaze  between  these  worthies.  Poor 
Grey  attempted  at  least  to  assuage  it ;  but,  as  he 
unfortunately  rather  leaned  to  Stanley,  upon  the 
ground  of  Durham  never  coming  to  the  Cabinet, 
Durham  fell  upon  him  with  all  his  fury,  said  that  he 

*  Afterwards  14th  Earl  of  Derby  [Prime  Minister]. 


J833-]  PRIVATE   POLITICAL   HISTORY.  607 

was  the  last  of  men  that  ought  to  have  made  that 
charge,  knowing  as  he  did  that  the  cause  of  his 
absence  was  devotion  to  his  dying  child,  and  then 
went  on  to  say  that  Grey  had  actually  been  the  cause 
of  the  boy's  death.  .  .  .  Poor  Althorp  put  his  head 
between  his  hands  and  never  took  them  away  for 
half  an  hour.  It  was  this  frightful  scene  that  pro- 
duced the  resignation  of  Durham,  tho'  he  had  been 
long  brooding  over  it. 

"  Let  me  give  you  another  specimen  of  the  manner 
in  which  our  great  men  govern  us.  Lord  Anglesey 
said  to  Duncannon  at  Dublin  : — '  Mr.  Stanley  and  I 
do  very  well  together  as  companions,  but  we  differ 
so  totally  about  Ireland  that  I  never  mention  the  subject 
to  hhn!'*  Anglesey  then  showed  Duncannon  a 
written  statement  of  his  views  respecting  Ireland, 
which  he  said  he  had  sent  to  Lord  Grey.  Duncannon 
says  nothing  could  be  better,  and  he  asked  him  why 
he  had  not  addressed  it  to  the  Cabinet. — 'Oh,'  said 
Lord  Anglesey,  '  I  consider  myself  as  owing  my 
appointment  exclusively  to  Lord  Grey,  and  "don't 
wish  to  communicate  with  any  one  else.'  When 
Duncannon  talked  to  Grey  on  the  same  subject,  Ld, 
G.  said  he  was  apprehensive  of  offending  Stanley 
by  laying  these  opinions  of  Anglesey's  before  him. 
Now  which  do  you  think  of  all  these  gentlemen 
deserves  the  severest  flogging.  Duncannon  says  that 
both  Grey  and  Althorp  entirely  agree  with  him  in 
opposition  to  Stanley  about  Irish  matters,  and  that 
both  one  and  the  other  avoid  touching  upon  the 
subject  to  Stanley,  least  they  sJioiild  offend  him. 

"  One  more  point  of  private  political  history. 
Brougham  has  again  and  again  in  my  presence  taken 
merit  to  himself  for  his  firmness  in  insisting  upon 
the  dissolution  of  Parliament  when  the  Government 
was  beat  upon  Gascoigne's  motion  in  i83r.t  The 
facts  of  that  case  are  as  follows.  On  the  day  after 
that   division,    Duncannon   dined   at    Durham's  with 

*  Lord  Anglesey  was  for  the  second  time  Lord  Lieutenant  (1S30-33), 
and  Stanley  was  Secretary  for  IreLand  under  the  Home  Office. 

t  When  Ministers  were  left  in  a  minority  of  22  on  General  Gas- 
coyne's  motion  against  reducing  the  number  of  members  for  England 
and  Wales. 


6o8  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXIV. 

Lord  Grey  and  others.  Durham  was  furious  for  dis- 
solution ;  Grey  and  the  others  became  of  the  same 
opinion,  and  that  it  must  take  place  the  very  next 
day.  Grey  sent  a  messenger  out  of  hand  to  Windsor, 
begging  the  King  to  be  in  town  next  day  at  eleven. 
He  then  sat  down  to  write  the  King's  speech  for  the 
occasion,  and  begg'd  Duncannon  to  get  a  coach, 
and  to  go  and  bring  the  Clerk  of  the  Council  and 
Brougham  there  directly.  When  Duncannon  arrived 
at  Brougham's  house,  the  servant  said  my  lord  was 
going  to  bed  and  could  not  be  seen/  However,  as 
you  may  suppose,  Duncannon  forced  his  way  up  ; 
but  Brougham,  when  informed  of  what  was  passing, 
said  he  would  be  no  party  to  the  proceeding — that 
he  entirely  disapproved  of  it,  and  should  go  to  bed 
directly,  adding  that  he  had  never  been  consulted.  How- 
ever, I  need  not  say  that  he  went,  and  that  he  made 
up  for  the  affront  of  never  being  consulted  by  giving 
out  that  it  was  his  own  act  and  deed." 

"  Bury  St.,  Saturday,  Nov.  i6th. 

"I  am  only  just  this  instant  (5  o'clock)  arrived 
in  the  same  cloathes  in  which  I  wrote  to  you  from 
Dublin  on  Thursday.  Barry,  my  dear,  if  any  sensible, 
well-informed  man  shall  ever  tell  you  that  a  new 
channel  is  discovered  from  the  Irish  Sea  to  the 
Mersey,  thro'  which  Irish  steamboats  of  all  dimen- 
sions ma^  always  pass,  let  the  state  of  the  tide  be 
what  it  will — tell  such  a  philosopher  that  he  lies,  and 
that  the  truth  is  not  in  him  ;  for,  having  had  the  most 
charming  and  successful  and  swiftest  passage  of  the 
season  up  to  4  o'clock  yesterday  morning,  so  as  to 
expect  to  be  in  by  5,  it  was  discovered  there  was  not 
water  enough  for  us  to  proceed.  We  were  shifted 
at  that  pleasant  hour  into  another  steamer  drawing 
less  water,  and  even  for  this  we  soon  found  there 
was  not  enough,  and  so  had  to  undergo  the  agreeable 
ceremony  of  lying  at  anchor  for  upwards  of  3  hours, 
and  did  not  reach  Liverpool  till  i-  past  9,  too  late  for 
the  early  coaches." 

"  19th. 

"  Amongst  the  many  instances  one  has  known  of 
London  gossip,  jaw  and  gullibility,  my  Irish  fame  is 


I833-]  LORD    HOLLAND'S   ABILITY.  609 

no  bad  specimen.  When  I  went  to  Whitehall  on 
Saturday,  poor  Mrs.  Taylor  began: — 'And  so,  Mr. 
Creevey,  there  is  no  living  in  the  Castle  at  Dublin 
without  you ;  so,  I  assure  you.  General  Ellice  writes 
to  every  one.' — When  I  saw  Sefton  the  same  night 
he  said : — '  Grey  has  a  letter  from  Wellesley  *  in 
which  he  says  you  are  the  most  agreeable  fellow  he 
has  seen  for  ages,  and  that  j^our  visit  to  them  has 
been  most  valuable.'  —  Col.  Shaw,  a  belonging  of 
Wellesley's  in  India  of  30  years'  standing,  whom  I 
saw  for  the  first  time  in  Dublin,  writes  word  that 
'Mr.  Creevey  by  agreeableness  has  greatly  con- 
tributed to  Ld.  Wellesley's  happiness,  and  to  his 
years  f\..A  note  from  Lady  Grey  yesterday  says  : 
— 'Pray,  pray!  dear  Mr.  Creevey,  dine  here  on 
Friday.'  In  the  course  of  the  morning  Esterhazy 
came  after  me  to  dine  with  him  yesterday,  and  Kempt 
has  been  here  this  morning  to  invite  me  for  Thurs- 
day. Sefton  had  a  letter  from  Brougham  and  Vaux 
from  Brighton,  begging  him  to  secure  Creevey  for 
dinner  to-day." 

"  Tower,  Nov.  23. 

"...  I  never  was  so  much  struck  with  the  agree- 
ableness of  Lord  Holland.  I  don't  suppose  there  is 
any  Englishman  living  who  covers  so  much  ground 
as  he  does — biographical,  historical  and  anecdoticaL 
I  had  heard  from  him  before  of  the  volumes  upon 
volumes  he  still  has  in  his  possession  of  Hora'ce 
Walpole's,  entrusted  to  him  by  Lord  Waldegrave, 
which  Lord  Holland  advises  the  latter  never  to  allow 
to  be  published,  from  the  abusive  nature  of  them ;  but 
I  was  happy  to  hear  him  add  that  there  was  no  say- 
ing what  circumstances  might  induce  a  man  to  do  ;  so 
it  is  quite  clear  that,  with  Lord  Waldegrave's  wonted 
\_illcgiblc\  the  abuse  will  some  day  see  the  light.  I 
never  knew  before  that  Horace  was  not  the  son  of 
Sir  Robert  Walpole,  but  of  a  Lord  Llervey,  and  that 
Sir  Robert  knew  it  and  shewed  that  he  did. 

"My  lady  [Holland]  was  very  complaining,  and 
eating  like  a  horse.  Lord  Holland  quite  well,  and 
yet   his   legs   quite   gone,   and    for   ever — carried   in 

*  Lord    WcUcslcy     had     succeeded     Lord     Anglesey    as    Lord 
Lieutenant. 


6lO  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.    '        [Ch.  XXIV. 

and  out  of  the  carriage,  and  up  and  down  stairs,  and 
wheeled  about  the  house.  .  .  .  You  mentioned  seeing 
Berkeley  Molyneux  *  and  his  Pop.  The  other  day,  his 
sisters  told  me  that  when  he  was  at  Croxteth  lately 
on  a  visit  to  Mull,t  old  Heywood  took  him  into  a 
corner  of  the  room  and  put  i^soo  into  his  hand,  and 
I  have  no  doubt  will  leave  him  a  handsome  fortune. 
He  was  always  his  favorite,  and  he  must  have  a 
fellow  feeling  for  him,  for  he  himself  adopted  a 
London  Pop  imported  into  Liverpool  by  an  old 
i'ellow  I  well  remember,  and  when  he  died  old  Arthur 
took  her  and  was  married  to  her  many  years  before 
her  death.  As  she  was  a  remarkably  good  kind  of 
woman,  he  may  perhaps  think  that  Berkeley's  tit  may 
be  the  same." 

"  Brooks's,  Nov.  24th. 
".  .  .  Yesterday  at  the  Hollands  we  had  Lord  Grey 
and  Lord  J.  Russell,  Charles  Fox  and  Lady  Mary, 
Henry  and  his  little  bride,t  Sidney  Smith,  John 
Ponsonby  (Duncannon's  eldest  son)  §  and  -EUice  the 
elder.  Lady  Holland  introduced  me  to  Henry's  wife 
in  a  very  pretty  manner  as  one  of  Henry's  oldest  and 
kindest  friends.  The  said  Lady  Augusta  I  consider 
as  decidedly  under  three  feet  in  height — the  very 
nicest  little  doll  or  plaything  I  ever  saw.  She  is  a 
most  lively  little  thing  apparently,  very  pretty,  and  I 
dare  say  up  to  anything,  as  all  Coventrys  are,  or  at 
least  have  been.  ...  I  can  scarcely  believe  the  story  of 
Lady  Jersey  and  Palmerston,  tho'  it  was  very  current 
that,  when  Lady  Cowper  went  abroad,  Palmerston 
transferred  his  allegiance  to  Lady  Jersey." H 

Earl  of  Scfton  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Croxteth,  Nov.  26th. 
"  Dear  Creevey, 

"  Pray  write  everything  you  hear.     What  do 
you  think  of  the  rumours  of  changes  ?     Somehow  or 

*  Second  son  of  the  2nd  Earl  of  Sefton. 
t  Lord  Molyneux,  his  elder  brother. 

♦  Henry  Fox,  afterwards  4th  Lord  Holland,  married  in  1833  Lady 
j\Iary  Augusta,  daughter  of  the  8th  Earl  of  Coventrj'. 

§  Afterwards  5th  Earl  of  Bessborough. 

\  Lord  Palmerston  married  the  Countess  Cowper  in  1S39. 


1833.]  GOSSIP.  611 

another  I  feel  that  things  are  not  quite  right  and  that 
Grey's  long  absence  was  injurious.  He  certainly 
seemed  rather  bitter  about  Palmerston's  intimacy 
with  L}'.  J[ersey],  and  I  think  with  reason.  Thank 
God  she  is  gone,  and  that  she  was  reduced  to  take 
[Sir  Robert]  Wilson  as  an  escort.  .  .  .  Stanley  has 
had  several  fainting  fits,  but  is  much  better.  They 
say  it  is  stomach.  If  anything  was  to  happen  to 
him,  what  would  become  of  us  in  the  H.  of  C.  ?" 

Mr.  Crccvcv  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  28th. 

"...  I  dined  at  Essex's  again  yesterday— company. 
Spring  Rice,  Chas.  Grant,  Sydney  Smith,  another  and 
m3'Self.  S3^dney  thanked  me  in  the  name  of  mankind 
for  the  successful  resistance  I  had  made  to  Old 
Madagascar*  at  dinner  on  Sunday.  He  said  he  had 
never  seen  Ld.  Grey  laugh  more  heartily  in  his  life, 
and  then  he  told  the  whole  story  to  Essex  and  Co." 

"  Dec.  7th. 
"At  Essex's  yesterday  we  had  Lord  Grey,  Mel- 
bourne and  Palmerston ;  and  of  the  minor  poets — 
Spring  Rice,  Poulet  Thomson,  Luttrell  and  myself 
Althorp  was  prevented  coming  by  the  gout.  .  .  .  Ld. 
Grey  seems  to  have  changed  his  opinion  all  at  once 
about  Talleyrand  and  the  Dino.  He  said  he  had  no 
doubt  they  were  both  against  him  and  in  favor  of 
Wellington,  which  is  the  entire  reverse  of  the  opinion 
I  had  heard  him  uniformly  express  on  the  same 
subject." 

Earl  of  Scfton  to  Mr.  Crcevey. 

"Croxteth,  Dec.  14th. 
".  .  .  What  3^ou  say  about  Ld.  Grey's  change  of 
tone  towards  Talleyrand  is  quite  intelligible  to  me. 
I  trace  it  entirely  to  Lad}'  Keith,  who  has  great 
influence  over  the  whole  Grey  family,  and  is  in  con- 
stant correspondence  with  them.  She  is  in  great 
habits  of  intimac}'  with  the  D.  of  Orleans — has  the  car 

•  Lady  Holhind. 


6l2  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXIV. 

of  the  Court,  and  hates  Talleyrand.  Her  object  is  to 
get  him  recalled,  and  to  replace  him  by  her  husband 
[illegible].  She  thinks  making  him  and  Ld.  Grey  ill 
together  would  drive  Talleyrand  to  resign.  I  can  tell 
you,  in  corroboration  of  this,  that  Monsr.  de  Bacourt 
told  me  that  nothing  wd.  contribute  more  to  decide 
T.  to  return  here  than  Ld.  Grey's  shewing  a  decided 
anxiety  for  it,  and  at  his  suggestion  I  got  G.  to  write 
a  most  kind  and  pressing  letter  to  T.,  representing  the 
importance  he  attached  to  his  coming  back,  both  with 
a  view  to  keeping  up  the  friendship  between  the  two 
countries,  and  to  the  settlement  of  the  Dutch  business. 
.  .  .  Ly.  Jersey  is  now  living  in  great  intimacy  with 
Louis  Philippe  and  the  D.  of  Orleans,  so  if  these  two  * 
don't  do  mischief,  it  will  not  be  for  want  of  pains." 

" 32nd. 
"...  I  must  just  give  you  an  extract  from  a  letter 
of  Mme.  de  Dino's  this  moment  arrived: — 'Sans  une 
tres  excellente  lettre  de  Ld.  Grey,  je  ne  crois  pas  que 
M.  de  Talleyrand  se  serait  decide  a  retourner  dans 
votre  chere  Angleterre.'  She  has  no  idea  that  I  was 
the  cause  of  that  letter,  and  never  will.  Bacourt  will 
keep  it  to  himself  The  whole  effect  would  be  spoiled 
by  their  knowing  it." 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Orel. 

"  Richmond,  Dec.  24,  1833. 
"  I  dined  at  Essex's  on  Saturday.  The  feature  of 
the  day  was  Parks,\  a  Birmingham  attorney  of  whom 
I  had  heard  much,  but  had  never  seen  before.  He  is, 
in  truth,  a  very  remarkable  man  in  every  respect.  He 
is  mix'd  up  with  all  classes— Church,  Chapels  and 
State ;  and  as  well,  or  better,  calculated  for  utility  than 
any  man  I  know  or  have  heard  of.  He  is  Secretary 
to  the  Corporation  Commission,  and  all  the  beneficial 
results  of  that  most  judicious  and  successful  measure 
are  attributable  to  him.  He  has  great  influence  in  the 
Trade  Unions ;  he  is  a  prime  leader  of  the  Dissenters. 

*  Lady  Jersey  and  Lady  Keith. 

t  Joseph  Parkes  [1796-1865],  who  acted  as  go-between  with  Whigs 
and  Radicals  ;  an  energetic  organiser  and  demagogue. 


1833-1  JOSEPH   PARKES.  6i 


It  was  a  curious  thing  to  hear  a  provincial  attorney 
observe  that  the  Liturgy  of  the  Church  had  not  been 
altered  for  200  years,  and  that  he  was  perfectly  con- 
vinced that  a  very  slight  alteration  in  it  would  let  in 
all  the  leading  Dissenting  establishments.  He  is  most 
decidedly  for  this  union.  ...  I  did  nothing  but  fire 
into  Lord  Grey  all  dinner-time  on  Sunday  about  this 
said  Parks;  and,  to  say  the  truth,  I  found  the  soil 
quite  ready  for  a  strong  impression.  He  said  that, 
from  all  he  had  heard  of  him,  he  had  formed  a  great 
opinion  of  him,  with  a  strong  desire  to  see  him ;  and 
then  he  got  on  to  say  that  he  would  know  him ;  upon 
which  our  dear  Lady  Grey,  in  a  tone  and  manner  quite 
her  own,  said  : — '  I  hope  there  is  no  Mrs.  Parks  !' — Is 
it  not  the  image  of  her  ? 

*'. . .  We  expect  to  hear  to-day  of  James  Brougham's 
death.  There  is  much  speculation  abroad  whether  the 
event  will  drive  the  Chancellor  mad.  It  is  quite  true 
that  his  brother's  influence  over  him  was  as  unbounded 
as  it  was  miraculous,  for  no  one  ever  discovered  the 
slightest  particle  of  talent  in  James  of  any  kind.  That 
he  was  his  secret  instrument,  spy  or  anything  else 
upon  every  occasion,  I  am  quite  sure." 


Earl  of  Scfton  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"Croxteth,  Dec.  30th,  1833. 

"  I  cannot  resist  sending  you  another  extract  from 
a  letter  from  Me.  de  Dino  received  yesterday.  I  par- 
ticularly wished  to  know  if  she  had  seen  the  Flahauts 
at  Paris.  Now  3^ou  must  know  that  nothing  could 
exceed  Talleyrand's  kindness  to  Flahaut  all  his  life. 
He  has  been  his  patron  and  protector — in  short,  a 
father  to  him.*  Thus  she  writes  : — *  Je  n'ai  rien  vu  du 
tout  des  Flahaut.  Le  mari  n'a  pas  meme  mis  une 
carte  chez  M.  de  T.  II  les  a  recontre  aux  Tuileries, 
ou  Monsr.  de  Flahaut  n'a  pas  meme  salue.  Cela  a  fait 
dire  un  tres  joli  mot  a  Monsr.  de  Talleyrand,  a  qui  on 
demandait  I'explication  de  I'impolitesse  de  Monsr.  de 
Flahaut.  "  Cest  que  je  I'ai  apparemment  mal  eleve ! " ' 
Nothing  could  be  neater." 

•  People  said  he  was  literally  his  father. 


<    6i4    ) 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

1834. 

Creevey  was  no  longer  in  Parliament,  but  he  had  a 
heartwhole  devotion  to  Lord  Grey,  whose  fortunes  he 
followed  with  intense  solicitude  and  pride.  Fierce, 
then,  was  his  wrath  against  those  who  brought  about 
his  retirement,  especially  against  Brougham,  for  whom 
he  could  find  no  more  fitting  sobriquet  than  "Beel- 
zebub." Retrenchment  was  marching  hand  in  hand 
with  Reform,  and  among  the  doomed  offices  was 
Creeve3'-'s  comfortable  department  of  Treasurer  of  the 
Ordnance.  It  is  amusing  to  find  him  who  had  so 
vehemently  clamoured  in  Opposition  for  the  sup- 
pression of  patent  places,  now  denouncing  as  vehe- 
mently the  action  of  the  Commission  then  sitting 
for  carrying  out  that  very  policy. 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"Brooks's,  Feb.  I2tli. 
"I  dined  at  the  Hollands  on  Saturday,  where  I 
suppose  the  party  was  meant  to  be  wits  and  men  of 
letters,  with  the  exception  of  Essex,  who  is  neither. 
Rogers  and  sister,  Tommy  Moore,  Luttrell,  Hallam 
the  historian  and  Creevey  the  pamphleteer.  When 
Lord  Holland  was  wheeled  in  after  dinner,  he  was 
lodged  on  my  right  side,  and  was  as  agreeable  as  ever 
he  could  be.  I  have  been  quite  surprised  of  late  at 
the  endless  variety  of  his  conversational  matter." 


IS34-]  CREEVEY'S    OFFICE   THREATENED.  615 

"  Feby.  utli. 
"  I  was  walking  through  St.  James's  Park  to-day 
and  seeing  Lord  John  Russell  mounting  his  horse  at 
the  Paymaster's  door,  I  went  up  merely  to  have  a 
word  with  him  about  Graham's  ridiculous  conduct  in 
the  House  last  night*  He  put  out  his  hand  saying: — 
'  Ah  !  Treasurer,  how  d'ye  do  ? '  to  which  I  replied  : — 
'  Ah  !  Treasurer  for  how  long  ? '  He  laughed  and  said 
nothing.  Now,  as  he  never  called  me  treasurer  before, 
and  he  must  know  if  the  place  is  to  live  only  a  few 
weeks  longer,  he  surely  could  not  have  addressed  me 
in  this  way  as  a  joke," 

"  May  31-d. 

".  .  .  Poor  old  Lady  Greyf  little  thought  what 
would  become  of  her  money.  She  left  all  she  had  to 
Lady  Hannah,^  and  she  again  left  it  to  her  son,  the 
young  Bear.  He,  being  a  very  aspiring  young  man 
of  fashion,  has  formed  a  connection  with  Duvernay 
the  opera  dancer,  to  whom  he  has  paid  ;2^20oo  down, 
and  has  contracted  to  pay  her  ;^8oo  a  year !  The  dear 
young  creatures  were  seen  going  down  in  a  chaise 
and  four  to  Richmond.  Capt.  Gronow,  the  M.P.  and 
duellist,  negociated  the  affair  for  the  young  Bear§ 
with  the  dancer's  parents." 

"May  7th. 

"...  I  thought  the  Beau  looked  horridly  at  the 
levee;  but  his  uniform  of  the  Blues  plays  the  devil 
with  him.  He  should  be  always  in  red.  You  will  see 
by  your  paper  that  there  was  a  split  last  night  in  our 
Cabinet,  between  Stanley  and  Lord  John  Russell — 
the  latter,  of  course,  declaring  for  more  popular  and 

*  Sir  James  Graham,  Mr.  Stanley,  Lord  Ripon,  and  the  Duke  of 
Richmond  had  resigned  office  owing  to  disapproval  of  the  Irish  Church 
Bill. 

t  Wife  of  the  ist  earl,  died  in  1822. 

:j:  Her  youngest  daughter,  married  ist  to  Captain  Bettcsworth,  R.N., 
2nd  to  the  Right  Hon.  Edward  Ellice,  M.P.     She  died  in  1832. 

§  Edward  Ellice,  afterwards  of  Invergarry  and  M.P.,  married  in 
1834  Miss  Katherine  Balfour  of  Balbirnic,  who  died  in  1S64.  In  1867 
he  married  the  widow  ot  Alexander  Spcirs  of  Elderslie,  and  died 
in  iSSo. 

2   T 


6l6  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.      [Ch.  XXV. 

healing  measures  towards  Ireland.  .  .  .  Tavistock  * 
told  me  he  had  long  seen  this  split  would  come,  but 
that  he  did  not  think  the  crisis  was  come  for  absolute 
separation  between  the  different  parties  in  the  Cabinet, 
tho'  he  thought  it  must  come  if  Stanley  and  others 
did  not  relax.  I  am  for  having  Stanley  severely 
vdiipped  :  it  would  do  him  a  power  of  good.  .  .  . 

'*  When  I  was  at  Sefton's  to-day  he  said  : — '  I  have 
a  proposition  to  make  to  you,  old  fellow,  which  is  that 
you  dine  here  every  day  that  you  are  not  engaged 
elsewhere.'  To  which  I  was  pleased  to  accede,  and 
behaved  very  handsomely  by  declaring  that  I  did  not 
consider  the  contract  as  binding  for  any  year  after  the 
present  one,  without  a  renewal  on  his  part  of  the 
proposal." 

"8th. 
"  Our  Government  was  in  the  greatest  danger  all 
yesterday.  John  Russell's  gratuitous  opinion  and 
declaration  of  secession  in  the  House  of  Commons  the 
night  before,  if  the  revenues  arising  from  the  Irish 
Tithes  Bill  were  not  left  to  the  appropriation  of 
Parliament,  roused  all  the  fire  of  those  in  the  Cabinet 
who  contend  that  such  revenues  are  to  be  applied 
exclusively  to  ecclesiastical  purposes.  The  indigna- 
tion of  the  latter  party  was  the  greater,  because  it  was 
understood,  and  John  Russell  had  particularly  stipu- 
lated not  to  raise  that  question.  Stanley  actually?- 
resigned  yesterday,  and  his  bottle-holders  are  Pighead 
Richmond  and  Canting  Graham.  .  .  .  However,  at  a 
Cabinet  meeting,  Lord  Grey  having  announced  his 
fixed  intention  of  retiring  at  once  from  publick  life  if 
the  whole  was  not  instantly  made  up,  and  old  Wicked- 
shifts  having  made  some  very  judicious  threats  of 
opposing  and  exposing  with  all  his  might  any  Govern- 
ment but  the  present  one  in  its  present  formation,  the 
thing  Vv^as  at  last  settled  in  peace  and  harmony,  and 
nothing  more  is  to  be  said  about  appropriation ,  till 
there  is  something  to  appropriate,  which  can't  be  for 
a  year  at  least.  .  .  .  Grey  told  them  that  the  conduct 
of  the  King  had  been  so  uniformly  kind  and  gracious 

*  Afterwards  7tli  Duke  of  Bedford,  eldest  brother  of  Lord  John 
Russell. 


I834-]  ROGERS'S    DINNER-PARTY.  617 

to  him,  and  Grey  knew  so  well  the  difficulties  he  [the 
King]  would  have  to  encounter  in  forming  a  new 
Cabinet,  that  he  thought  it  would  be  very  dishonorable 
to  desert  him,  if  it  could  be  avoided.  .  .  .  Brougham 
said  to  Sefton : — '  I  followed  Grey,  and  I  observed 
that  I  was  very  differently  situated  from  my  friend 
Lord  Grey — that,  while  he  considered  his  political  life 
as  closing,  I  considered  my  own  as  onl}^  just  beginning 
— that  I  never  felt  younger  or  more  vigorous — that, 
from  the  moment  the  present  Government  was  broken 
up,  all  my  occupation  and  resources  should  be  devoted 
to  destroying  any  other  one — that  there  was  nothing  I 
would  not  undertake  to  accomplish  that  object — that 
I  would  attend  all  political  meetings  out  of  Parliament, 
publick  and  private,  and  that  from  the  present  temper 
of  the  publick,  which  I  well  knew,  I  was  as  sure  as  I 
was  of  my  existence  that  no  Government  but  an  ultra- 
Liberal  one,  both  in  Church  and  State  affairs,  would 
be  endured  for  a  week.  ...  Of  course,'  he  continued, 
'you  will  see  my  object  was  to  frighten  the  damned 
idiots  Stanley  and  Co.  from  attempting  by  themselves, 
or  be  coalescing  with  Peel  and  Co.,  to  set  up  a  Church 
government;  and  I  think  I  did  so.'  .  .  .  Was  there 
ever  such  a  chap  in  the  world  as  Wickedshifts  ?  Who 
do  you  think  dined  with  him  yesterday? — The  Duke 
of  Gloucester,  and  no  other  man  !" 

"Stoke,  1 8th. 

"...  I  hope  never  again  to  assist  at  such  a  blue 
dinner  as  at  Rogers's  on  Friday.  Bobus  Smith  and 
old  Sharpe  *  were  really  too — not  a  moment's  inter- 
mission— not  even  little  John  Russell  could  get  in  his 
little  observations,  much  less  his  brother  William, 
whom  I  would  willingly  have  examined  as  to  affairs 
in  Portugal,  where  he  has  so  long  resided,  and  latterl}' 
as  our  ambassador.  I  never  was  so  sick  of  learning 
as  Bobus  and  the  Hatter  made  me  that  da}'.  .  .  .  Our 
Earl  and  Countess  [of  Sefton]  have  left  about  an  hour 
ago  in  a  gig,  on  a  visit  to  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of 
Bedford  at  Woburn,  38  miles  off;  having  two  horses 
stationed  on  the  road  besides  the  one  the}^  started 
with.     Since  they  went,  it  has  rained  cats  and  dogs, 

*  Richard  Sharp  [1759-1835],  commonly  known  as  "  ConversatioD 
Sharp." 


6l8  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.      [Ch.  XXV. 

and  they  in  a  gig  without  a  head !  This,  as  I  say  to 
Lady  Louisa,  is  eniuii  in  fine  people  tired  of  being  at 
the  top  of  the  tree,  and  wanting  to  see  what  is  at  the 
bottom.     How  the  servants  must  grin  ! " 

"  27th. 

".  .  .  Since  I  last  wrote,  our  Government  has 
been  in  a  state  of  dissolution,  and  altho'  my  mind  was 
perfectly  prepared  to  lose  my  Tower,  and  I  should 
have  borne  the  loss  better  than  many  a  richer  man, 
still  it  was  not  a  very  agreeable  state  of  things  to 
write  about.  Now,  however,  I  believe  I  may  say  all 
danger /or  the  present  is  over.  Stanley,  Graham  and 
the  Duke  of  Richmond  have  resigned  to-day.  The 
difficulty  has  been  to  make  Lord  Grey  go  on  with  the 
Government,  and  to  a  late  hour  last  night  I  saw 
letters  under  his  own  hand  saying  nothing  should 
induce  him  to  do  it ;  but  our  Billy  has  forced  him  to 
go  on,  whether  he  will  or  no." 

"  Brooks's,  May  29tb  (King  Charles's  Rcstoratiori 
and  Minister  Charles's  aiissi). 

"I  dined  yesterday  at  Stanley's,  with  Johnny 
Russell  by  his  side,  and  it  was  all  very  well.  .  .  .  All 
the  offices  were  to  be  filled  to-day.  Think  of  young 
Cole  *  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies !  Aber- 
cromby  vice  Stanley !  Oh  dear,  oh  dear !  .  .  .  I  con- 
tinue to  dine  out  daily  according  to  custom.  We  had 
a  great  day  on  Sunday  at  '  dear  Eddard's,'  with  our 
Chancellor  in  the  character  of  lover  to  Mrs.  Petre, 
tho'  Lady  Grey  tells  me  this  lover  is  dead-beat  by 
Palmerston.  Was  there  ever?  I  dine  with  Fergy 
to-day  to  meet  the  Cokes  and  Abercromby,  but  not  as 
Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies,  for  all  is  settled, 
and  no  mention  of  young  Cole.  Auckland  first  Lord 
of  the  Admiralty!!!  Was  there  ever?  Spring  Rice 
the  Colonies  !  Ld.  Carlisle  Privy  Seal ;  Mulgrave,  it 
is  probable,  the  Post  Ofiice,  EUice  in  the  Cabinet 
with  his  present  office.  I  am  very  glad  of  this  last 
arrangement,  because  he  is  the  most  courageous 
bottle-holder  Lord  Grey  could  have.    I  dine  to-morrow 

*  The  Right  PI  on.  James  Abercromby. 


lS34.]  COMPETITION    FOR   OFFICE.  619 

at  Sefton's  with  Brougham  only;  next  day  at  Praise- 
God  Barebones  Fitzwilliam's." 

"  May  30th. 

".  .  .  Very  agreeable  party  at  Lady  Lichfield's  last 
night — Duchess  of  Kent  everything  1  could  wish  .  .  . 
and  plenty  of  '  comrogues/  male  and  female.  Weil, 
tho'  our  places  are  all  filled,  there  is  no  end  of  tan- 
trums. Durham  is  furious  at  not  being  in  the 
Cabinet.  He  asked  Lord  Grey  the  cause  of  it,  to 
which  the  latter  only  replied  it  was  '  quite  impossible' 
Durham  asked  who  it  was  that  objected,  but  asked  in 
vain ;  the  fact  being  that  Brougham  told  Lord  Gre3' 
he  would  not  sit  in  the  same  Cabinet  with  Durham, 
and  that  Grey  must  make  his  choice  between  them. 
Brougham  has  been  to  the  greatest  degree  indignant 
with  Grey  at  his  appointment  of  Auckland  to  the 
Admiralty,  the  more  so  as  the  appointment  was  made 
at  the  suit  of  Lansdowne.  So,  according  to  custom, 
the  said  Vaux  has  saluted  Grey  and  Lansdowne  with 
a  literary  philippic  apiece.  However,  Sefton  says  he 
is  dulcified  since  last  night.  All  the  old  and  new  set 
were  at  Anson's  last  night,  and  Brougham  said  to 
me: — 'Auckland's  is  a  neat  appointment,  is  it  not  ?  ' 
twisting  about  his  nose  in  its  happiest  forms.  To  be 
sure,  my  opinion  would  be  that  the  hand  of  death 
was  on  Lord  Grey  when  he  could  place  on  his  side  in 
this  Cabinet  such  a  notorious  and  so  useless  a  jobber 
as  Auckland,  at  the  dictation  of  such  a  perfect  old 
woman  as  Lansdowne." 

"  Bury  St.,  June  2nd. 

"...  I  dined  at  Fitzwilliam's  *  on  Saturday  with 
the  ugliest  and  most  dismal  race  I  ever  beheld,  and  yet 
there  is  a  card  from  them  for  a  party  this  day  week, 
with  '  Dancing'  in  the  corner.  The}'' cut  the  worst 
figure  by  contrast  with  the  young  Lady  Milton,!  who 
has  the  merriest  and  most  sweet-tempered  face  I  ever 

*  The  5th  Earl  Fitzwilliam,  who,  as  \'iscount  Mikon,  had  sat  and 
acted  with  Crccvey  in  tho  House  of  Commons. 

t  Lady  Selina  Jenkinson,  daughter  of  the  3rd  Earl  of  Liverpool. 
Lord  Milton  died  in  1835.  His  widow  married  in  1S45  ^'r.  Savilc 
Fooljambe  of  Osbcrton,  and  died  in  1SS3. 


620  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXV. 

beheld — or  nearly  so.  A  Jenkinson,  too,  and  they  are 
not  over  lively.  .  .  .  You  can  form  no  notion  of  the 
obloquy  that  Auckland's  appointment  has  brought 
upon  the  Government,  or  of  the  terms  in  which  he 
himself  is  talked  of  ...  I  was  called  out  of  Brooks's 
yesterday  by  Wm.  Brandling,  who  said  there  was  an 
acquaintance  of  mine  round  the  corner,  who  would  be 
glad  to  see  me ;  and  who  should  it  be  but  the  sweet 
Fanny,  looking  much  more  beautiful  than  ever.  We 
had  a  long  walk,  and  I  was  quite  enchanted  with  her. 
I  dare  say  her  gown  had  not  cost  a  pound,  but  in 
looks  altogether  she  beat  all  London.  .  .  „" 

«6th. 

".  .  .  Well,  here  is  Ld.  Carlisle  Privy  Seal  after  all, 
but  only  as  a  makeshift,  he  himself  having  the  greatest 
possible  objection  to  it.  When  Sefton  told  me  that 
either  Radnor  or  Dacre  was  to  have  it,  and  asked  me 
what  I  thought  of  the  appointment,  I  said  that,  as 
far  as  I  was  concerned,  I  would  not  trust  either  of 
them  with  half  a  crown ;  not  from  any  distrust  of 
their  honesty,  but  from  their  being  a  couple  of  wrong- 
headed  fellows  you  could  never  be  safe  with.  Wit- 
ness, in  Radnor's  case,  the  mess  he  got  into  with 
Mrs.  Clarke,  and  his  letters  to  her  in  the  Duke  of 
York's  case.  His  having  identified  himself  to  the 
extent  he  has  done  with  Cobbett,  and  his  childish 
consultation  with  me  about  bringing  him  into  Par- 
liament, (Sic,  &c.  Then  Dacre  is  a  conceited  prig — a 
generalising,  soi-disaiit  German  philosopher.  Do 
you  remember  Mrs.  Sheridan  asking  me  how  he 
spoke,  and  how  Sheridan  enjoyed  it  when  I  said 
Mike  a  Druid  from  the  top  of  Snowdon.'  Radnor 
would  give  a  more  Radical  character  to  the  Govern- 
ment, and  Dacre  a  Presbyterian  one,  having  a  very 
strong  personal  resemblance  to  that  community. 
.  .  .  Well;  the  Government  having  elected  Radnor 
of  the  two  as  their  Privy  Seal,  with  much  importunity 
from  Brougham,  on  Wednesday  night  he  accepted  ; 
but  yesterday  morning  brought  his  stipulation,  with- 
out which  being  acceded  to  he  was  ojf—'  an  equitable 
adjustment,  the  duration  of  Parliament  shortened,  and 
the   repeal   of  the    Corn    Laws ! '      What    a   modest 


i834-]  OXFORD    DECLINES   TALLEYRAND.  621 

estimate  a  man  must  have  of  his  own  importance  to 
prescribe  such  conditions  !  Of  course  the  Govern- 
ment had  done  with  him  out  of  hand,  and  there  was 
not  time  to  sound  Dacre  before  the  levee  ;  but  Lord 
Grey  told  Sefton  he  was  going  to  offer  it  to  him  last 
ni^ht.  Lord  Grey  was  full  of  his  miseries  to  Sefton — 
said  he  had  no  sleep  at  night,  that  he  was  harass'd  to 
death,  and  was  quite  aware  he  shd.  die  if  not  shortly 
relieved  of  the  labours  and  anxieties  of  office.  Of  this 
I  feel  quite  sure,  that,  this  season  over,  he  will  never 
meet  another  as  Prime  Minister.  .  .  .  He  will  go  out, 
when  he  does  go,  covered  with  glory,  and  I  see  no 
chance  of  his  equal  being  found  in  the  present  circle 
of  mankind."* 

"7tli. 
".  .  .  Dacre,  instead   of  being  Privy  Seal,  had  a 
stroke  of  apoplexy  last  night,  and  fell  down.  .  .  ." 

"  9th. 
.  ".  .  .  We  had  all  the  corps  diplomatique  last  night 
in  Downing  Street.  The  Dino  and  the  Lievens  are 
gone  to  Oxford  to-day  to  take  their  degrees,  Wel- 
lington t  communicated  to  old  Talleyrand  that  the 
University  would  not  stand  ///;;/,  and  advised  him  to 
keep  away.  What  a  blow  upon  Talley  to  be  rejected 
by  the  Monks!" 

«i3th. 
",  .  .  Your  nephew,  young  William  Ord,  dares  not 
vacate  his  seat  as  M.P.  for  a  seat  at  the  Treasury 
Board.  The  young  gambler  Byng  is  to  have  it.  Ld. 
Conyingham  Post  Master!  Abercromby  has  the 
Mint,  without  a  salar}^,  and  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet. 
What  accessions  to  the  Government ! " 

■"23rd. 
".    .    .    As    I    arrived    first     to     dinner    at    Paul 
Methuen's,!  and  Brougham  arrived  second,  I  had  him 

*  Creevey's  forecast  was  fulfilled  by  Lord  Grey's  resignation  in 
July  following. 

t  As  Chancellor  of  the  University. 
X  Created  Lord  Alethucn  in  1S3S. 


622  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXV. 

out  on  a  balcony  to  myself  in  no  time.  I  stated 
William  Roscoe's  case  as  one  that  he  was  actually 
bound  to  attend  to — that  he  professed  to  be  the  patron 
of  literary  merit — that  Roscoe's  father's  fame  in  that 
department  was  unrivalled  [?  unquestioned]  —  that, 
moreover,  he  was  his  friend,  and  had  boasted  to  me 
of  corresponding  with  him  to  his  dying  day — that  he 
[Roscoe]  had  been  his  principal  supporter  in  our 
Liverpool  contest,  and  in  short  that,  after  a  most 
meritorious  life,  he  had  been  reduced  by  misfortune 
to  nearly  beggary.  Brougham  admitted  all  this,  but 
said  he  had  nothing  to  give  worth  Wm.  Roscoe's 
acceptance.  In  a  short  time  afterwards  he  took  me 
out  on  the  balcony  again,  and  said  : — *  I  have  been 
thinking  Wm.  Roscoe's  case  over,  and  I  have  a  place 
that  would  suit  him.  They  will  have  it  that  I  must 
have  an  Accountant-General  for  my  new  Bankruptcy 
Court,  and  Wm.  Roscoe  shall  have  it.  It  will  be 
£1200  a  year  for  life.' — Now  was  there  ever?  I  take 
it  for  granted  he  will  jib  and  fling  over  both  William 
and  myself ;  Jiiais  nous  vcrrons  /  It  will  be  curious  to 
see  what  invention  he  will  resort  to  in  order  to  defeat 
this  gratuitous  offer. 

"  We  had  a  most  jolly  day  and  very  good  company. 
Mrs.  Methuen  is  a  sister  of  Ly.  Radnor,  and  a  great 
improvement  upon  her — I  don't  mean  in  niorals ;  I 
know  nothing  upon  that  subject,  except  that  the 
parent  female  stock,  who  was  there  in  the  evening, 
has  been  somewhat  slippery  in  her  day." 

"  Bury  St.,  July  5th. 

"...  I  am  full  of  the  impression  left  upon  me  by 
the  sight  of  that  unrivall'd  library  left  by  Pepys  to 
Magdalene  College  [Cambridge].  I  believe  the 
exquisite  charms  that  are  to  be  found  in  it  are,  to  this 
day,  almost  unknown  to  the  world.  You  remember 
Pepys's  memoirs  (published  by  Ld.  Braybrooke,  who 
is  Hereditary  Visitor  and  appoints  the  Master  of  this 
college),  the  manuscript  of  which  I  had  in  my  hand  ; 
but  these  are  almost  trash  compared  to  other  contents 
of  this  librar}^  There  are  5  folio  volumes  of  prints, 
almost  from  the  origin  of  printing,  being  the  portraits 
of  ever}^  ro3'al   or  public  man,  woman  or  child  down 


I834-]  CREEVEY'S   NEW   POST.  623 

to  Pepys's  own  time.  I  could  scarce  tear  m3-self  awa}' 
from  them,  and  even  these  are  nothing  compared  to 
all  the  other  curiosities.  .  .  .  Well,  j^ou  see  a  new 
quarter  has  begun,*  and  our  Government  is  still  in, 
and  I  believe  quite  safe  now  until  Parliament  meets 
again,  notwithstanding  the  spiteful  speech  of  Stanle}- 
last  night.  All  reasonable  men  think  it  most  dis- 
graceful of  him." 

"  July  8th. 

"  It  is  my  constant  practice  to  spend  two  pence  a 
day  in  the  hire  of  a  chair,  or  rather  two  chairs,  one  on 
each  side  of  the  water  in  the  new  and  beautiful  en- 
closure in  St.  James's  Park.  So  when  the  enclosed 
note  came  after  me  to-day,  with  the  name  '  Grey '  in 
the  corner  and  '  Immediate '  on  the  top,  Mrs.  Durham, 
who  knows  all  my  ways,  immediately  despatched 
Durham  to  ransack  the  said  enclosure,  and  he  found 
me  as  nearly  asleep  as  possible,  on  the  side  nearest  to 
Downing  Street.  So  there  I  went ;  and  Lord  Grey, 
in  the  prettiest  manner,  told  me  that  Lord  Auckland's 
place  in  Greenwich  was  vacant,  and  asked  me  if  it 
would  be  agreeable  to  me  to  have  it.  He  said  it  was 
not  nearly  as  good  as  my  present  place,  and  that  I 
should  have  some  work,  as  I  had  to  take  care  of  the 
Northumberland  estates,  «S:c.t  He  said  he  had  been 
very  desirous  that  I  should  have  the  house,  as  it  was 
a  very  nice  one,  with  a  very  nice  garden,  &c.,  but  that 
Tierney  had  a  right  to  it  in  his  turn  as  Commissioner. 
.  .  .  .As  to  the  income,  it  is  quite  sure  to  be  enough 
for  me,  and  the  respectability  of  the  office,  and  the 
way  in  which  it  is  given  me  by  Lord  Grey's  own 
unsolicited  good  will,  gives  the  most  agreeable  finish- 
ing touch  to  my  political  life.  .  .  .  Sefton  is  to  find 
out  from  Auckland  in  the  Lords  to-night  the  real 
value  of  the  office,  and  I  shall  know  it  at  the  opera. 

"  I  never  saw  Lord  Grey  apparently  more  op- 
pressed with  care  than  he  was  this  morning.  He  said 
he  had  meant  for  some  time  past  to  offer  me  this 
office  ;  but  that  things  were  now  looking  so  distracted, 
there  was  no  answering  for  the  continuance  of  the 

*  Creevey  means  that  his  quarter's  salary  is  safe. 

t  The  estates  of  Greenwich  Hospital  in  Northumberland. 


624  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS,  [Ch.  XXV. 

Government,  and  on  that  account  he  was  for  having 
my  appointment  done  out  of  hand.  He  complained 
bitterly  of  Stanley  and  Graham,  as  well  he  might.  It 
seems  these  two  wretches  left  the  House  last  night, 
rather  than  vote  against  O'Connell." 

*'  *  Ah,  thoughtless  mortals  !  ever  blind  to  fate,' — 
'  don't  count  your  chickens  before  they  are  hatch'd  ' — 
various  are  the  accidents  between  the  cup  and  the  lip. 
And  now,  if  you  want  an  illustration  of  the  wisdom 
of  all  these  admonitions,  read  the  enclosed  note  from 
Grey  which  I  received  about  12  o'clock  to-day.  .  .  . 
:  It  now  turns  out  that  Althorp  sent  in  his  resignation 
to  Lord  Grey  yesterday  morning ;  and  Lord  Grey,  in 
forwarding  it  immediately  to  the  King  at  Windsor, 
accompanied  it  with  his  own  resignation  ;  so  that  he 
was  actually  out  when  I  had  my  conversation  with  him 
yesterday.  A  messenger  from  Windsor  arrived  in 
Downing  Street  between  nine  and  ten  last  night  with 
the  acceptance  of  the  resignations  of  Lord  Grey  and 
Althorp ;  and  either  the  same  messenger  or  another 
this  morning  brought  a  letter  from  the  King  to  Lord 
Melbourne,  begging  to  see  him  before  the  levee 
;  to-day.  .  .  .  Grey  and  Althorp  being  out,  I  def}'- 
Melbourne  or  Brougham,  or  all  the  Whigs  united,  to 
•  patch  up  any  more  Whig  Governments.  ...  I  have 
not  felt  any  depression  yet,  and  I  dare  say  I  never 
shall ;  tho'  I  admit  it  is  very  tantalising  to  have  been 
so  near  a  post,  and  then  to  be  stranded  after  all.  .  .  ." 

"  6.30  p.m. 

"Althorp  has  been  stating  in  the  House  of 
Commons  that  the  Cabinet  being  divided  on  the 
Coercion  Bill  was  the  cause  of  its  being  broken  up. 
Neat  articles  they  must  be  to  bring  in  a  Bill  they  were 
not  agreed  about ! " 

"  loth. 

".  .  .  Our  poor  Earl  Grey  was  so  deeply  affected 
last  night  as  not  to  be  able  to  utter  for  some  time, 
and  was  obliged  to  sit  down  to  collect  himself. 
\When  he  did  get  under  w^eigh,  however,  he  almost 


i834]  ANECDOTE   ABOUT   LORD    GREY.  625 

affected  others  as  much  as  he  had  been  affected  him- 
self All  agree  that  it  was  the  most  beautiful  speech 
ever  delivered  by  man.  Clunch,*  too,  in  the  other 
House,  distinguished  himself  greatly  for  his  native 
simplicity  and  integrity.  ...  I  hope  you  see  Wicked- 
Shifts'st  declaration  that  he  has  not  resigned,  and 
never  will  He  has  not  seen  the  King,  I  mean — to 
have  an  audience  with  him,  but  he  favored  him  with 
one  of  his  letters  yesterda3^  .  .  .  The  salary  at  Green- 
wich is  ^600  a  year,  with  coals,  candles,  &c." 

The  hitch  in  Creevey's  appointment  to  Greenwich 
arose  from  Lord  Auckland's  unwillingness  to  resign. 
This  was  got  over  by  Brougham,  who  forced  Auck- 
land's hand,  thereby  clearing  the  road  for  Lord  Grey's 
old  friend. 

*'  1 2th  August. 

"...  I  asked  Sefton  just  now  how  Lord  Grey  was 
last  night  —  whether  he  was  in  the  same  depressed 
state  of  mind  he  had  been  in  the  two  or  three  preced- 
ing days. — '  Why,'  said  Sefton,  '  I'll  tell  you  a  story  of 
him  last  night,  and  you  may  judge.  He  was  talking  of 
Taglioni,  and,  after  going  over  all  the  dancers  of  his 
own  time  by  name,  and  swearing  that  not  one  of  them 
came  within  a  hundred  miles  ot  her,  he  concluded  by 
saying  in  the  most  animated  strain  : — "  What  would  1 
give  to  dance  as  well  as  her  !  "  This  sudden  ebullition 
of  ambition,  in  so  new  a  field  for  a  fallen  Minister  of 
State,  produced  a  very  natural  convulsion  of  laughter 
from  the  few  persons  present,  and  from  no  one  more 
than  Lad}^  Grey,  who,  as  soon  as  she  recovered,  said  : 
— ''This  passion  in  Lord  Grey  is  not  new  to  me,  for 
I  well  remember  that,  on  the  only  day  he  ever  \yas 
tipsy  in  my  presence,  when  he  returned  from  dining 
with  the  Prince  of  Wales,  nothing  would  serve  him 
but  dressing  himself  in  a  red  turban  and  trying  to 
dance  like  Paripol !"'... 

"  Melbourne  and  our  William  are  going  on  corre- 
sponding about  a  Government,  and  he  is  to  go  down 

*  Lord  AUliorp.  t  Lord  Brougham. 


626  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXV. 

to  the  King  at  Windsor  to-morrow  at  two.  .  .  .  The 
King's  first  proposal  to  Melbourne  was  to  make  a  com- 
prehensive administration,  and  he  named  the  Duke 
of  Wellington,  Peel  and  Stanley  as  necessary  parties 
to  such  a  Government.  Melbourne  wrote  his  reasons 
at  length  and  in  detail  why  he  thought  it  quite  im- 
possible that  such  a  mixture  with  the  late  Govern- 
ment could  ever  take  place.  He  communicated, 
however,  the  King's  proposal  to  the  Duke,  Peel  and 
Stanley,  accompanying  each  with  his  own  letter. 
Stanley,  in  his  answer,  adopts  every  one  of  Mel- 
bourne's arguments  against  such  a  coalition,  pro- 
fesses his  unqualified  adherence  to  Lord  Grey  and 
his  principles,  and  avows  his  fixed  determination 
never  to  make  a  part  of  a  Tory  Government.  The 
Beau  and  Peel,  in  their  answers,  merely  state  they 
have  received  Melbourne's  letter,  and  that  they  don't 
feel  themselves  commanded  by  the  King  to  say  more. 
Melbourne  has  written  to  them  again  by  the  King's 
command  to  ask  what  they  think  of  his  proposal  and 
what  they  mean  to  do,  and  the  King  begs  them  to 
send  their  answers  thro  Lord  Melbourne.  This  is 
treating  the  great  men  (that  used  to  be)  rather 
scurvily,  1  think.  ...  I  dine  at  Althorp's  to-day,  and 
to-morrow  at  Lord  Grey's." 

"  14th. 

".  .  .  Melbourne  returned  from  Windsor  to-day 
with  carle  blanche  to  form  a  Government.  They  have 
been  at  work  all  morning  trying  to  put  the  old  ship 
afloat  again,  with  some  alteration  in  the  crew.  .  .  . 
Althorp  certainly  remains  in." 

"i6tli. 
".  .  .  Our  poor  Taylor  is  dead.*  ...  I  had  really 
a  charming  day  at  Holland  House  yesterday.  Dear 
Lord  Grey  was  one  of  the  part}^  as  amiable  as  ever 
he  could  be.  Lady  Holland  followed  me  out  when 
1  came  awa}^  to  ask  me  to  come  again  on  Sunday 
next,  which   I    promised   to  do.  .  .  .  Melbourne  has 

*  The  Right  Hon.  Michael  Angelo  Taylor,  M.P.,  a  gentleman  of 
small  stature  and  moderate  sagacity,  but  greatly  assisted  to  some 
distinction  by  his  clever  and  ambitious  wife. 


I834-]      BROUGHAM    BLAMED    FOR   THE   CRISIS.         627 

been  kissing  hands  at  the  levee  to-day  as  Prime 
Minister,  and  he  is  succeeded  in  the  Home  Depart- 
ment by  Duncannon,  who  goes  up  to  the  House  of 
Lords.  Duncannon  is  succeeded  in  the  Woods  and 
Forests  by  Hobhouse,  with  a  seat  in  the  Cabinet." 

"  19th. 

".  .  .  Besides  Duncannon  yesterday  at  Essex's, 
we  had  Rogers  and  Miss  Rogers,  Lord  and  Lady 
William  Russell  and  another  or  two.  I  have  never 
seen  a  woman  that  I  hate  so  much  as  Lady  William 
Russell,*  without  knowing  her  or  ever  having  ex- 
changed a  word  with  her.  There  is  a  pretension, 
presumption  and  a  laying  down  the  law  about  her 
that  are  quite  insufferable.  Then  her  base  ingrati- 
tude to  those  who  formerly  fed  and  cloathed  her — 
Fanny  Brandling,  the  Fawkes's  and  others — sink  her 
still  lower  in  my  hatred  of  her.  .  .  ." 

"  August  4th. 

"...  I  am  all  ashamed  to  say  that  I  dined  at 
Brougham's  on  Saturday,  because  I  am  as  sure  as  I 
am  of  my  existence  that  it  was  he  who  drove  Lord 
Grey  from  the  Government  by  his  perfidious  corre- 
spondence with  Lord  Wellesley  respecting  the  Co- 
ercion Bill ;  and  moreover,  I  am  equally  certain  that 
the  driving  Lord  Grey  from  the  Government  has  long 
been  the  object  nearest  Brougham's  heart.  How 
then  can  one  dine  at  Brougham's  one  day  with  all 
the  rubbish  of  Lord  Grey's  Government,  with  Beelze- 
bub himself  in  roaring  spirits  (his  servants  in  silk 
stockings  and  waiting  in  gloves),  and  then  dine  at 
Lord  Gre^'^'s  yesterday,  with  hitii  quite  knocked  down 
and  poor  Lady  Grey  actually  speechless — both  feel- 
ing that  he  has  been  the  victim  of  the  basest  perfidy  ? 
Poor  Lady  Grey!  you  must  remember  how  often  she 
told  me  at  the  formation  of  the  Government,  and  with 
her  uniform  horror  of  Brougham,  how  completely  she 
had  got  him  in  a  cage  by  having  him  in  the  House 
of  Lords.      They  were  both  quite  sure  he  could  do 

*  She  was  a  daughter  of  the  Hon.  John  Rawdon  (brother  of  the 
1st  Marquess  of  Hastings),  and  died  in  1874. 


628  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Cn.  XXV. 

no  harm,  tho'  they  well  knew  his  dispositions.  .  .  , 
Where  do  you  think  I  dine  to-day?  With  our  poet 
Rogers,  to  meet  Anacreon  Moore  and  that  melodious 
dicky-bird  Miss  Stephens.*  Can  you  imagine  a 
greater  contrast  to  the  two  preceding  dinners?  .  .  . 
Miss  Stephens  has  realised  ;^30,ooo  by  her  voice,  and 
brought  up  and  supported  with  it  a  very  large  family 
of  her  kindred.  .  .  ,  Only  think  of  the  Beau's  flirt,  Mrs. 
Arbuthnot,  being  dead  ! " 

«  7th. 

".  .  .  The  dicky-bird  failed  me  at  Rogers's — a  cold 
in  her  pipe  kept  her  at  home ;  so  we  had  only  Essex, 
his  daughter,  Mrs.  Ford,  Miss  Rogers  and  Tommy 
Moore,  of  whose  melodies  I  had  rather  more  than 
enough." 

^' Stoke,  nth. 

".  .  .  Lord  Grey  and  his  family  were  at  Windsor 
from  Monday  last  till  Wednesday,  during  which  the 
King  took  him  into  his  own  room  and  had  a  conver- 
sation of  two  hours'  duration  with  him,  in  the  course 
of  which  he  was  pleased  to  say  that  he  was  actually 
miserable  since  he  had  lost  his  services,  and  he  did 
not  see  how  or  when  he  was  to  be  otherwise.  He 
spoke  of  Ld.  Melbourne  as  liking  him,  but  that  he 
had  no  position  either  at  home  or  abroad  to  be  com- 
pared with  Lord  Grey,  and  that  as  to  the  rest  of  the 
Government,  they  were  nobody.  When  our  Billy  said 
Ld,  Melbourne  was  nobod}'-  at  home  or  abroad,  com- 
pared with  Lord  Grey,  he  touched  the  real  thing, 
which  these  presumptuous  puppies  will  feel  before 
they  are  much  older.  Palmerston  never  signed  a 
dispatch  that  had  not  been  seen  and  altered  by  Lord 
Grey.  Do  you  suppose  he  will  ever  submit  to  this 
from  Melbourne  ?  or,  if  he  did,  what  does  Melbourne 
know  of  it  ?  ...  I  wish  Grey  may  let  to-night  pass 
without  giving  way  to  any  vindictive  feelings,  which 
I  learn  from  Sefton  are  gaining  upon  him  hourly. 
Sefton  dined  at  Talleyrand's  on  Friday  with  Grey ; 

*  Catherine  Stephens  [1794.-1882],  vocalist  and  actress,  whose 
marriage  with  Lord  Essex  took  place  a  few  v/ccks  after  Creevey's 
death  in  1858. 


I834-]      LORD    GREY'S    OPINION    OF   BROUGHAM.        629 

and  by  some  mistake  about  the  day,  Brougham  came 
in  late  to  dinner ;  but  Lord  Grey  would  not  speak  to 
him.  Having  taken  leave  of  the  Government  in  the 
generous  way  he  did  in  the  House  of  Lords,  I  can't 
bear  his  showing  any  subsequent  resentment.  .  .  . 
Brougham  already  chuckles  to  Sefton  at  the  influence 
he  has  got  over  Melbourne,  compared  with  what  he 
had  over  Grey ;  but  our  Earl  [Sefton]  is  in  a  mighty 
combustible  state  upon  these  matters,  and  will,  to  all 
appearance,  on  some  early  day  burst  out  upon  Beelze- 
bub. He  considers  Grey  as  having  been  baseh^ 
sacrificed  by  a  low-lived  crew,  not  worthy  to  wipe  his 
shoes,  and  that  the  Arch-fiend  Brougham  has  been  all 
along  the  mover  of  this  plot  for  his  own  base  and 
ambitious,  selfish  purposes." . 


The  Countess  Grey  to  Mr.  Crcevey. 

"Howick,  iStli  Sept. 

•'.  .  .  I  have  a  little  changed  my  mind  about  this 
same  Achitophel.*  I  begin  to  believe  that  he  really 
did  not  at  that  time  mean  to  turn  Lord  G.  out.  I 
believe  so,  because  it  was  not  essential  to  his  interest 
to  do  so,  not  that  I  suspect  him  of  2cay  scruples.  I 
am  inclined  to  think  his  own  version  of  it  is  true.  He 
expected  to  bully  Lord  G.  and  to  shorten  the  session. 
He  afterwards  got  into  a  mess,  and  it  cost  him 
nothing  to  tell  a  thousand  lies.  .  .  .  But  enough  of 
our  triumphs  and  our  feuds.  Thank  God !  as  you 
say.  Lord  G.'s  political  life  has  ended  gloriously.  .  .  . 
We  are  now  settled  here  for  ever." 


Mr.  Crcevey  to  Miss  Ord 

"  Stoke  Farm,  24th  Sept. 

".  .  .  Melbourne  came  here  for  dinner  on  Sunday, 
and  was  off  early  in  the  morning.  .  .  .  He  told  Sefton 
that  his  real  belief  was  that  Brougham  never  intended 
to  force  Ld,  Grey  out  of  the  Government,  and  I  beg 
your  attention  to  Brougham's  defence  of  himself,  as 
made  to  the  innocent  Melbourne. — '  It  is  true,'  says 

*  Lord  Broiitrham. 


630  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.      [Ch.  XXV. 

Brougham,  'that  I  did  write  to  Lord  Wellesley 
begging  him  to  withdraw  his  support  of  those  clauses 
in  the  Coercion  Bill  which  have  since  been  with- 
drawn :  it  is  true  that  I  made  Littleton  '"  write  to  the 
same  effect,  and  my  sole  intention  in  this  was  to 
shorten  the  session,  that  I  might  have  time  to  go  to 
the  Rhine  '  (of  course  with  Mrs.  Petre  !).  Now,  from 
the  creation  of  the  world,  was  there  ever  such  a 
defence — be  it  a  lie  or  be  it  true  ?  And  then  the 
villain  says  it  never  entered  his  imagination  that  it 
could  lead  to  the  result  it  did.  Melbourne  states  his 
decided  opinion  that  he  is  mad,  and  that  he  will  one 
day,  in  sacrificing  everything  for  his  own  personal 
whim,  be  sacrificed  himself." 

''Brooks's,  I7tli0ct. 
".  .  .  Sefton  came  up  to-day  on  purpose  to  see 
the  smoking  remains  of  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament. 
What  an  event !  I  saw  the  poor  old  House  of 
Commons  smoking  as  I  came  over  Westminster 
Bridge  just  now.  The  fire  burst  out  again  to-day^ 
and  burnt  furiously  for  two  hours." 

"  Stoke  Farm,  20th  Oct. 
".  .  .  Our  party  here  have  been  the  little  Russian 
ambassador;  D'Orsay,  the  ultra  dandy  of  Paris  and 
London,  and  as  ultra  a  villain  as  either  city  can 
produce  (you  know  he  married  Lord  Blessington's 
daughter,  a  beautiful  young  woman  whom  he  has 
turned  upon  the  wide  world,  and  he  lives  openly  and 
entirely  with  her  mother.  Lady  Blessington.  His 
mother,  Madame  Craufurd,  aware  of  his  profligacy, 
has  left  the  best  part  of  her  property  to  her  sister, 
Madame  de  Guiche's,  children) ;  Lord  Tullamore,  who 
is  justly  entitled  to  the  prize  as  by  far  the  greatest 
bore  the  world  can  produce  (he  married  a  daughter  of 
Lady  Charlotte  Campbell— a  very  handsome  woman 
and  somewhat  loose,  but  as  she  is  dying  of  a  con- 
sumption we  will  spare  her);  Lord  Allen,  a  penniless 
lord  and  Irish  pensioner,  well  behaved  and  not  en- 
cumbered with  too  much  principle;  Tommy  Dun- 
combe,  who   lost   ;^6oo   here  the  two  last  nights  at 

*  Created  Lord  Halhcrton  in  1835. 


1834.]  A   BREEZE   WITH    BROUGHAM.  631 

whist  to  Lord  Sefton,  and  who,  if  he  was  in  possession 
of  his  father's  estate  to-morrow,  would  not  have  a 
surplus  of  eightpence  after  paying  his  debts.  Charm- 
ing company  we  keep,  don't  we  ?  Then  we  have 
Col.  Armstrong  of  old  masquerade  fame,  and  now 
equerry,  or  some  such  thing,  to  the  King — a  very 
good-natured  man,  and  [illegible]  than  all  the  others 
put  together,  which,  you'll  say,  is  not  saying  much 
for  him.  .  .  .  Lord  Fitzroy  Somerset  *  told  me  that 
Wyatt  says  he  can  make  Ragland  t  habitable  for 
;i^io,ooo  and  completely  restore  it  for  ;^50,ooo." 

'•  Brooks's,  Oct.  22. 

".  .  .  Now  for  Lord  Durham  and  our  Brougham 
and  Vaux.  You  saw  the  origin  of  this  storm — the 
scratch  Durham  gave  Vaux  at  Edinburgh,  and  the  kick 
Vaux  gave  Durham  in  return  from  Salisbury.  They 
are  now  got  to  closer  quarters.  Vaux  has  taken  the 
field  against  him  in  an  article  in  the  Edinburgh  Review, 
which  you  ought  to  read.  Durham  is  attacked  by 
name,  whilst  his  assailant  is  anonymous,  tho'  known 
to  all  the  world.  Durham  replies  publickly  in  his  own 
name  that,  if  the  writer  of  this  article  is  a  member  of 
the  Government,  he  is  a  liar,  or  words  to  that  effect. 
Now  my  own  deliberate  opinion  is  that  Vaux  is  at  last 
caught,  and  will  be  ruined  ;  and  very  likely  the  Govern- 
ment will  fall  with  him.  His  going  to  Scotland  at  all 
with  the  purpose  he  did — to  rob  Lord  Grey  of  his 
fame — was  an  act  of  insanity,  and  the  disease  has 
increased  since.  .  .  ." 

•'  24th. 

".  .  .  Allow  me  to  mention  to  you  a  curious  pint. 
On  Wednesday  evening  as  I  was  going  up  to  Crocky's 
to  dine,  little  Freeman  accosted  me  in  the  dark,  and 
turned  about  with  me,  asking  me  how  I  was.     I  said 
my  only  complaint  was  that  I  could  not  warm  my  feet; 
for  love  or   money.     He   said   that  was  wrong — the; 
circulation  must  be  defective,  &c.     'Of  course,'  said* 
he,   'you  wear  woollen  stockings.' — 'No,'  said  I,   *L 
have    never  done  so   in   my   life.' — 'Then   get   some 
directly,'  said  he.     So  3'esterday  I  bought  6  pair  for 

*  Created  Lord  Raglan  in  1852.  f  Raglan  Castle. 

2  U 


632  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXV. 

morning,  and  three  do.  thinner  to  wear  under  silk  in 
the  evening.  I  am  in  them  now,  and  such  an  imme- 
diate change  I  never  witnessed.  I  have  been  as  warm 
as  a  toast  from  the  moment  I  put  them  on." 

"Brooks's,  Oct.  29,  1834. 

".  .  .  At  Stoke  we  had  the  Russian  again,*  an 
English  merchant  from  Riga,  Younger  by  name,  the 
Due  de  Richelieu,  Tom  Buncombe,  Col.  Armstrong, 
Poodle  Byng  and  myself  Whilst  at  dinner  on  Sunday 
the  two  Colonels  arrived,  Berkeley  and  Henry,t  with 
Charles  Grenfell,  all  from  Croxteth.  .  .  .  Essex  is  very 
pathetic  about  himself,  is  he  not?  and  very  tender 
about  the  Greys.  It  is  just  seven  years  since  he  was 
all  for  Canning's  Government,  and,  like  Sefton,  all  gall 
against  Lord  Grey.  When  Grey  came  into  office  this 
month  four  years  ago,  Essex  was  one  of  his  earliest 
and  most  constant  toadies,  and  Lady  Grey  used  to 
treat  him  like  a  dog;  so  much  so  that  one  day  when 
I  was  there,  after  he  had  left  the  room.  Lord  Grey 
said : — '  Upon  my  life,  Mary,  you  are  too  bad  in  your 
rude  manner  of  treating  Essex,  and  I  am  sure  he  sees 
and  feels  it'  To  which  our  Countess  replied : — *  I 
mean  that  he  shotild  see  it,  because  I  can  never  forget 
the  shameful  conduct  of  himself  and  others  to  you.' — 
'Oh,'  said  Grey,  'that  is  gone  by,  Mary,  and  we  must 
forget  it.'  She  used,  at  that  time,  to  treat  Sefton 
exactly  in  the  same  way,  and  for  the  same  reason  ; 
but  lords  and  M.P.'s  have  great  rewards  for  perse- 
verance in  toad3ang." 

Earl  of  Essex  to  Mr.  Crccvey. 

"  Belgrave  Square,  Nov.  i,  1834. 

"My  dear  Creevey, 

"  How  I  envy  you  3'our  visit  to  Howick ;  but 
alas !   the  19th  of  this   month   I  turn  76,+  and  must 

♦  Princess  Lieven. 

t  Lord  Sefton's  sons. 

X  According  to  Burke's  Peerage,  the  5th  Earl  of  Essex  was  born 
i3tli  November,  1757,  which  would  make  him  a  year  older  than  he 
reckoned. 


I834-]  THE   ROAD  AT   ITS   PRIME.  6SZ 

remain  in  my  chimney  corner.  Say  all  that  is  7nosf 
kind  and  affectionate  from  me  to  them  all.  I  think  the 
Glasgow  meeting  has  ended  well :  Lambton  *  has  only 
supported  his  original  principles,  and  Grey's  letter,  like 
everything  he  says  and  does,  is  sure  to  be  just  and 
dignified  and  kind  to  Lambton.  The  operatives,  also, 
deserve  great  credit  for  their  moderation  in  all  their 
sentiments  and  opinions.  Upon  the  w^hole  I  think 
Grey  will  be  satisfied,  or  at  least  think  no  harm  has 
been  done.  Whether  there  may  not  be  some  individuals 
in  the  country  not  quite  satisfied  at  all  that  is  passed, 
is  neither  your  business  nor  mine.  Those  who  make 
their  own  beds  must  sleep  upon  them.  I  hope  you 
and  others  of  your  party  will  do  all  you  can  to 
encourage  Grey  to  come  up  to  the  meeting.  He  must 
not  remain  out  at  grass,  but  show  his  high-mettled 
crest  and  shining  coat  to  throw  the  Tories  into  dismay 
at  the  very  look  of  him. 

"  Yours  ever, 

"  Essex." 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"York,  Nov.  2,  1834. 

"  Oh !  Barry,  my  dear,t  your  mail  is  the  genuine 
mode  of  travelling  for  us  single  people,  provided  it  is 
not  that  stupid  heavy  Gloucester  one.  We  were  the 
last  mail  out  of  Post  Office  Yard  last  night — h  past  8, 
and  such  a  load  of  letters,  too,  and  bags  as  I  never 
beheld — nevertheless  I  was  here,  198  miles,  by  a 
quarter  before  five  this  evening,  was  dressed  by  six, 
and  have  just  finished  my  excellent  boiled  fowl  and 
bacon.t ...  I  am  so  enamoured  of  mail  travelling  that 

*  The  Earl  of  Durham. 

t  Mr.  Creevey  usually  addressed  Miss  Ord  as  Bessy,  but  some- 
times as  Barry. 

X  Nimrod  writes  of  this  Edinburgh  mail  as  the  ne  plus  ultra  of 
road  work  at  any  time.  "  It  runs  the  distance,  400  miles,  in  a  little 
over  40  hours,  and  we  may  set  our  watches  by  it  any  point  of  her 
journey.  Stoppages  included,  this  approaches  eleven  miles  in  the  hour, 
and  much  the  greater  part  of  it  by  lamplight."  The  time  of  the  Flying 
Scotsman  on  the  Great  Northern  Railway  for  this  journey  is  now 
8  hours  and  25  minutes  ;  and  she  keeps  it. 


634  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXV. 

I  mean  to  stay  here  to-morrow,  to  play  with  the 
Minister,  to  have  an  early  dinner  and  be  off  with  the 
Edinbro  mail  of  to-morrow  about  five,  and  so  get  to 
Alnwick  about  six  on  Tuesday  morning.  ...  1  have 
been  thinking  much  of  the  belligerents  Lambton  and 
Brougham  on  my  way  down,  and  I  think  the  former 
has  completely  cut  his  own  throat  by  his  speech  at 
the  Glasgow  dinner,  and  has  given  Beelzebub  a  horse 
to  ride  which,  with  his  jockeyship,  will  carry  him  thro'. 
It  is  not  a  year  since  this  hair-brained  Lambton  claimed 
for  himself  at  his  Gateshead  dinner  the  exclusive  merit 
of  originating  the  general  Reform  Bill ;  and  now,  for- 
sooth, he  pledges  himself  to  his  new  allies,  the  Glasgow 
operatives,  and  to  all  other  operatives,  that  he  will 
have  nothing  short  of  household  suffrage,  &c.,  &c.^ 
which  is,  of  course,  a  repeal  of  the  present  Reform 
Act,  of  which  six  months  ago  he  was  so  proud. 
Beelzebub  may  say  now,  when  he  is  accused  of  his. 
gratuitous  declaration  against  going  on  too  quickly 
with  Reform  : — '  Why,  I  knew  at  the  time  more  than 
you  all  put  together.  I  knew  that  a  daring  measure 
was  concocting  to  destroy  all  our  labours,  and  put  the 
people  cji  masse  against  the  property  of  the  country^ 
and  I  knew  that  Lord  Durham  was  to  lead  this  crew. 
With  this  conviction  on  my  mind,  could  I  do  less  than 
put  the  country  on  its  guard  against  the  new-fangled 
Reform?'  .  .  .  Durham's  is  a  truly  daring  measure^ 
and  he  has  nothing  left  but  to  pit  the  strength  of  the 
Radicals — himself  at  their  head — against  the  property 
and  good  sense  of  the  country  ;  and  I  presmne  {ior  there 
is  no  telling  till  one  sees)  that  he  will  be  beat  dead 
hollow." 

"  Howick',  Vov.  4th. 

"A  nicer  little  dinner  and  a  happier  one  I  never 
had— the  ex-Prime  Minister  and  lad}^  two  boys 
(Frederick  and  Harry),  Lady  Georgiana  and  Nummy  * 
all  the  company,  with  dumb  waiters.  Only  think  of 
Downing  Street !  .  .  .  Last  July  two  and  thirty  years 
ago  was  the  first  time  I  ever  was  in  this  house.  I  had 
just  then  become  M.R  for  the  first  time,  and  was  here 
"early  enough  from  my  own  election  to  be  present  at 

*  Crcevey  himself. 


x834-]  LORD    GREY   IN    RETIREMENT.  635 

Lord  Grey's  for  this  county.  I  well  remember  going 
with  him  to  the  county  meeting  at  Alnwick — a  very 
crowded  one  in  the  Town  Hall.  After  Lord  Grey* 
had  proceeded  some  way  in  his  address,  he  said  there 
was  one  subject  on  which  they  would  naturally  be 
anxious  to  know  whether  his  former  opinions  had 
undergone  any  change — namel}^  Parliamentary  Re- 
form. I  never  shall  forget  the  excitement  which  this 
question  produced  in  the  audience;  still  less  can  I 
ever  forget  that  thunder  of  applause  and  delight 
when  he  announced  that  the  result  of  his  experience 
had  been  to  convince  him  more  than  ever  of  the 
indispensable  necessity  of  that  great  measure.  Well 
then,  here  he  is,  and  this  great  measure  carried  :  aye, 
and  carried  exclusively  by  himself;  for  without  his 
character  and  talents,  no  man  or  men  could  have 
done,  or  even  attempted  it ;  nor  would  any  Sovereign 
have  trusted  any  other  man  to  do  it.  .  .  .  And  yet, 
here  he  is  after  all — stranded,  compelled  by  the  con- 
duct of  his  own  Government  to  abandon  the  concern, 
and  to  retire  into  private  life.  As  far  as  he  is  con- 
cerned— the  prolongation  of  his  life  and  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  remaining  part  of  it,  no  one  who  sees 
him  and  has  known  him  before,  can  doubt  his  good 
fortune  in  being  placed  in  this  situation.  .  .  .  No 
continuance  in  power  could  add  an  atom  to  his  fame. 
He  stands  the  only  ex-Minister,  certainly  in  this 
country  and  perhaps  in  any  other,  entirely  spotless. 
.  .  .  You  remember  as  well  as  myself  the  natural 
anxiety  and  desponding  character  of  his  disposition. 
Now  that  he  has  closed  his  political  life,  that  early 
fever  has  not  a  trace  of  it  left,  and  a  more  perfect 
picture  of  contentment  and  even  playfulness  I  defy 
the  world  to  produce." 

The  remainder  of  this  letter  deals  with  Brougham's 
part  in  recent  events,  and  describes  the  corre- 
spondence that  had  passed  between  him  and  Lord 
Grey  in  relation  to  them.  Enough,  perhaps  too 
much,  has   been   quoted   already  to  show  the  bitter 

•  He  was  then  the  Hon.  Charles  Grey. 


636  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.      [Ch.  XXV. 

feelings  against  Brougham  which  prevailed  among 
Lord  Grey's  friends.  There  are  mountains  of  letters 
on  the  subject,  and  it  avails  little  further  to  reopen 
forgotten  sores. 

"9th. 

"Where  did  I  leave  off  yesterday  ?  At  poor  Lord 
and  Lady  Grey's  believing  that  Brougham,  in  his 
intrigues  unknown  to  Lord  Grey  about  the  Coercion 
Bill,  did  not  mean  to  get  Lord  Grey  out  of  office. 
Why,  then  he  must  be  an  idiot,  or  something  much 
worse !  because  he  must  have  been  quite  sure  that 
when  this  plot  became  known  to  Lord  Grey,  the 
latter,  as  a  man  of  honor,  could  not  remain  a  moment 
longer  with  such  perfidious  scamps.  ...  I  cannot 
help  thinking  (tho'  I  may  be  wrong)  that  Lord  Grey 
is  not  sorry  Durham  has  taken  the  real  Radical  line 
at  last,  and  think  it  relieves  him  from  any  further 
political  connection  with  him,  which  has  been  one 
constant  source  of  torment  to  Lord  Grey  from 
Lambton's  unreasonable  and  shameful  conduct  to  him. 
.  .  .  Lord  Grey  told  me  yesterday  that  the  applica- 
tions made  to  him  for  peerages  had  been  over  three 
hundred,  and  for  baronetages  absolutely  endless. 
He  says  he  is  in  great  disgrace  with  Col.  Grey  of 
Morrick  for  not  making  him  one — that  his  wife  came 
to  Downing  Street  in  tears  absolutely  to  implore 
this  favor  from  him,  but  he  would  not.  .  .  .  Lord 
Grey  told  me  that  it  was  one  of  the  first  acts  of  his 
Government  to  offer  Coke  a  peerage — absolutely  an 
earldom — and  Coke  had  chosen  for  a  title  'Castle- 
acre,'  an  estate  purchased  by  the  Lord  Chief  Justice 
Coke,  joining  Holkham ;  but  just  before  our  William 
came  to  the  throne,  Coke,  at  a  dinner  given  him  at 
Lynn,  had  made  a  most  violent  speech  against  George 
the  Third,  pointing  to  his  picture  which  was  in  the 
room,  and  calling  him  'that  wretch  covered  with 
blood'  (meaning,  of  course,  from  the  American  and 
French  wars),  an  insufferable  speech,  particularly 
of  a  dead  man ;  so  that  all  the  Royal  Family  were 
in  arms  about  it.  The  King  put  it  to  Lord  Grey 
whether,   after   such   an   attack  upon   his   father,  he 


I834-]  OVERTURES   TO   LORD    HOWICK.  637 

could  confer  this  signal  mark  of  favor  upon  him,  and 
Grey  thought  not."  * 

"  1 2th. 

"So  Lord  Spencer  is  dead  by  this  time!  Just  in 
time  to  save  Althorp  from  that  horrible  position  in 
the  House  of  Commons  which  his  late  folly  put  him 
into.  But  what  comes  of  the  House  of  Commons 
itself?  Who  is  to  lead  that  precious  assembly?  .  .  . 
Stanley  would  be  the  only  man  if  he  had  only  com- 
mon sense  and  common  manners;  but  I  think  Spring 
Rice  must  be  the  man.  .  .  .  Talking  of  Lady  Howick,t 
Lady  Grey  said  : — '  I  never  liked  her,  and  I  do  so  now 
less  than  ever.  I  believe  she  is  clever  and  has  been 
agreeable ;  her  natural  character  is  to  be  saucy  and 
pert,  but  with  me  is  artificial  and  guarded  in  the 
extreme ;  curious  and  inquisitive  to  the  greatest 
degree,  and  sending  to  her  sister  in  Yorkshire  every- 
thing she  picks  up  ;  t  which  somehow  or  other  comes 
to  me  on  its  return  from  Yorkshire.  Then,  if  I  deny 
having  said  it  in  part  or  in  whole,  I  am  told  it  must 
be  so,  for  "  Maria  took  it  down  in  her  journal  at  the 
time!"  which  is  not  very  pleasant  you  know.  But 
Henry  is  quite  devoted  to  her,  and  she  has  supreme 
influence  over  him.'  .  .  .  Just  as  I  was  in  the  midst 
of  writing  the  last  sentence.  Lord  Grey  stalked  into 
the  great  library,  his  spectacles  aloft  upon  his  fore- 
head, and  I  saw  at  once  he  was  for  jazv,  so  I  abandoned 
my  letter  to  you  and  joined  him.  .  .  .  He  had  received 
a  letter  from  Lord  John  Russell  to-day,  and  I  saw 
in  a  minute  both  Holland  and  Lord  John  were  making 
offers  to  Lord  Howick  of  a  berth  in  the  Government 
(in  the  Cabinet,  of  course)  thro'  Lord  Grey ;  and  then 
we  began  to  talk  on  that  subject  in  good  earnest.  I 
gave  my  own  decided  opinion  that  the  Government 
could  not  last ;  that  I  had  always  thought  so  before 
the  late  insanity  of  Brougham  and  Durham's  scrape, 
even  if  Lord  Spencer  had  lived  ;  and  that  the  Govern- 
ment would  have  broken  down  in  the  House  of  Lords, 

*  Mr.  Coke  was  created  Earl  of  Leicester  immediately  after  King 
William's  death  in  1837. 

t  Creevey's  old  correspondent,  Miss  Maria  Copley. 

J  Much  as  Creevey  himself  sent  everything  to  his  step-daughter. 


638  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXV. 

Melbourne,  with  all  his  merits,  being  utterly  incapable 
of  sustaining  it  ;  but  that  nozv  it  would  go  to  the  devil 
at  once  in  both  Houses.  On  that  account,  I  would 
nave  Lord  Howick  extremely  cautious  in  taking 
office  without  more  daylight,  the  design  in  having 
him  being  obvious— to  pass  for  having  Lord  Grey's 
support.  Lord  Grey  was  quite  with  me  that  the 
Government  must  go,  Althorp  being  gone,  and  he 
thinks  it  could  not  have  weathered  the  session  had 
he  remained ;  but  he  has  an  evident  hankering  for 
Howick  being  in  office,  and  evidently  has  a  most 
false  estimate  of  his  talents,  and  of  every  other 
property  belonging  to  him.  ...  I  will  stop  here,  as 
every  day  must  bring  us  new  speculations  as  to  the 
result  of  Althorp's  political  demise." 

«i5tli. 
".  .  .  Lord  Grey  had  a  letter  from  Lord  John 
Russell  yesterday,  stating  that  he  had  consented  to  be 
leader  of  the  House  of  Commons.  Can  anything  be 
more  condescending?  Was  there  ever  such  luck  for 
Lord  Grey  as  being  out  of  office  before  Althorp  was 
off,  and  Johnny  Russell  leader?  We  are  both  agreed 
that  such  an  arrangement  is  horrible,  if  not  fatal. 
We  both  agree  that  he  has  an  overweening  conceit  of 
himself,  is  very  obstinate,  very  pert,  and  can  be  very 
rude — charming  properties  for  the  leader  of  snch  a 
'House  of  Commons!  .  .  .  Lord  Grey  says  Mulgrave's 
pretensions  are  beyond  all  bearing,  that  he  never 
found  Grant  worth  a  single  farthing,  and  that  Aber- 
cromby  is  a  perfect  humbug." 

When  King  William  dismissed  Melbourne  and  his 
colleagues  in  November,  1834,  he  laid  his  commands 
on  the  Duke  of  Wellington.  The  Duke  recommended 
that  Sir  Robert  Peel  should  form  a  Government;  but 
as  Peel  was  absent  in  Rome,  the  Duke  consented  to 
conduct  affairs  until  his  return,  declining,  however, 
to  fill  any  offices  during  Peel's  absence.  Therefore 
until  Peel  returned  on  9th  December,  the  Duke  was 
virtuall}'  First  Lord  of  the  Treasury,  Home,  Foreign, 


1834.]  MELBOURNE'S    DISMISSAL.  639 

Colonial,  and  War  Minister;  an  arrangement  which 
gave  mighty  umbrage  to  the  Opposition. 

"i6th. 
"  Here's  a  go  for  you!  The  Whigs  turned  out  and 
Wellington  sent  for.  A  letter  from  Lord  Melbourne 
to  Lord  Grey,  written  at  Brighton,  announces  this 
fact.  .  .  .  Now,  will  this  convince  Beelzebub  that 
honesty  is  the  best  policy  after  all  ?  It  was  his  perfidy 
to  Lord  Grey  about  the  Coercion  Bill  that  destro3'ed 
the  Government.  .  .  .  Then  the  conceited  pupp^' 
Johnny  Russell,  who  gave  the  first  blow  to  the 
Government  by  disclosing  the  Cabinet  differences 
about  the  Church,  thereby  making  Stanley  and  the 
Duke  of  Richmond  resign,  that  he,  having  lost  Lord 
Grey  and  Lord  Althorp  too,  should  be  fool  enough  to 
think  that  lie  could  lead  the  House  of  Commons ! 
Next  to  these  two  benefactors.  Brougham  and  Lord 
John,  the  Tories  are  under  everlasting  obligations  to 
Lord  Durham  and  his  Glasgow  dinner.  ,  .  .  When  I 
was  here  five  and  twenty  years  ago,  a  King's  messenger 
arrived  bringing  an  invitation  from  Perceval  to  Lord 
Grey  to  unite  with  him  in  making  a  Government. 
Castlereagh  and  Canning  having  quarrelled,  fought 
and  gone  out  of  office.  I  presume  no  messenger  will 
come  now  on  a  similar  errand  from  Wellington. 
{After  dinner)  Duke  of  Bedford  mentions  a  fact  Lord 
Grey  and  I  were  not  aware  of;  viz.  that  Peel  is  in 
Italy.  Wellington  can  form  no  Government  without 
his  concurrence." 

"  17th. 
".  .  .  Melbourne  writes  that  his  conversation  with 
the  King  was  a  very  long  one,  and  that  his  mind  was 
quite  made  up  that  the  Government,  such  as  it  was 
reduced  to,  could  never  stand.  .  .  ." 

"  Brougham  describes  in  his  letter  to  Sefton  (who 
has  arrived  here)  his  interview  with  the  King  at  the 
Council  on  Monday.  After  referring  to  the  Tetter  of 
advice  he  wrote  to  the  King,  and  applying  a  profusion 
of  butter  to  him    and  his  lamil}-,   Brougham  said  he 


640  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXV. 

hoped  he  never  should  be  placed  in  the  painful  situation 
of  acting  with  any  hostility  to  his  Majesty  or  any  part 
of  his  family  ;  *  but  as  the  leader  of  a  popular  [party] 
in  this  country,  he  could  not  conceal  from  himself  that 
he  might,  to  a  certain  extent,  be  controll'd  by  the 
measures  of  such  a  party :  in  short — a  regular  threat, 
at  which  Beelzebub  says  the  King  seem'd  much 
annoy'd  (as  well  he  might),  very  grave,  but  very  civil 
(which  I  doubt !).  Brougham  writes  : — '  I  dined  with 
Lyndhurst  to-day,  and  he  says  he'll  be  damned  if  he'll 
be  Chancellor  without  some  security.  In  the  mean- 
time he  gives  up  the  Exchequer  to  Scarlett,  who  is 
Lord  Chief  Baron  and  goes  to  the  House  of  Lords.' "  t 

"  20th. 
".  .  .  Brougham  continues  to  write  daily  to  Sefton 
letters  of  a  perfect  Bedlamite.  He  says  the  excitement 
in  London  becomes  more  universal  and  intense  every 
day ;  whilst  Lord  Grey's  letters  from  Melbourne  and 
others  state  that  there  never  was  more  perfect  apathy 
amongst  all  classes." 

" 22nd. 
".  .  .  Lord  Grey  and  I  are  of  opinion  that  Welling- 
ton's difficulties  appear  greater  every  day.  His 
assuming  all  the  offices  of  State  into  his  own  hands, 
without  knowing  if  he  can  ever  fill  them,  is  a  most 
offensive  and  wanton  act  of  power.  For  instance,  he 
has  dismissed  from  their  offices  in  the  most  insulting 
manner  Palmerston  and  Rice,  without  naming  any 
successors,  when,  according  to  established  usage, 
they  might  have  held  the  seals  of  their  offices  till  such 
successors  had  been  found.  ...  It  is  clear  that  this 
move  of  the  King's  was  not  anticipated  by  the  Tories, 
or  Peel  would  have  been  on  the  spot.  This  vesting, 
or  rather  assuming,  of  all  the  power  by  one  man,  and 
him  a  soldier  and  with  such  known  opinions,  for  a 
whole  fortnight  or  perhaps  three  weeks,  is  giving 
opportunities  for  every  species  of  criticism  upon  such 
conduct.  The  Whigs  might  have  died  a  natural 
death,  as  they  shortly  would,  had  they  been  let  alone; 

*  Referring  to  Queen  Adelaide's  overt  antipathy  to  the  Whigs, 
t  As  Lord  Abinger. 


1834.]  CHARACTER   OF   LORD    SEFTON.  641 

but  it  is  quite  another  thing  to  have  them  kick'd  out 
of  the  world  by  this  soldier,  and  to  see  him  stand 
single-handed  on  their  grave,  claiming  the  whole 
power  of  the  nation  as  his  own." 

"23rd. 
".  .  .  It  seems  the  offer  to  Stanley  which  I 
mentioned  has  not  actually  been  made  yet*  Peel  is 
to  be  home  on  the  spot,  before  a  single  fixed  appoint- 
ment is  made.  Great  homage  to  him  this !  .  .  .  I  am 
more  and  more  struck  every  day  with  Lord  Grey's 
happy  appearance,  and  I  can't  help  making  in  my  own 
mind  the  contrast  between  him  and  Sefton.  In  my 
estimation,  Sefton  is  by  no  means  inferior  to  the 
other  in  natural  talents.  In  conversation  he  has  much 
more  fancy  and  a  much  greater  variety  of  talent ;  and 
had  his  mind  taken  the  same  direction  earlier  and 
received  the  same  cultivation  as  the  other,  he,  too, 
would  have  been  a  most  powerful  speaker,  tho'  not  as 
eloquent.  But  this  want  of  early  cultivation  now 
ruins  him.  Lord  Gre}^  spends  a  good  part  of  every 
day  with  his  book,  which  Sefton,  from  want  of  habit, 
can't  do,  and  he  is  compell'd,  therefore,  to  exist  a  great 
part  of  his  time  upon  excitement  from  play,  cookery, 
&c.,  &c.  It  would  do  you  good  to  see  me  send  Lord 
Grey  to  bed  every  night  at  half  after  eleven  o'clock, 
which  is  half  an  hour  beyond  his  usual  time.  This  I 
do  regularly,  and  it  amuses  him  much.  He  looks 
about  for  his  book,  calls  his  dog  Viper,  and  out  they 
go,  he  having  been  all  day  as  gay  as  possible,  and  not 
an  atom  of  that  gall  he  was  subject  to  in  earlier  life. 
To  be  sure,  when  he  read  a  letter  this  morning  at 
breakfast,  stating  that  the  Duke  of  Gloucester  was 
dangerously  ill,  he  did  say : — '  Well,  if  he  dies,  all  I 
can  say  is,  he  won't  leave  a  greater  fool  behind  him 
than  himself!'  But  how  feeble  and  gentle  ////s  com- 
pared with  the  energy  of  earlier  days,  when  he  told 

*  Stanley  was  offered  office  in  Peel's  cabinet  as  soon  as  Peel 
returned  from  Rome.  He  declined  it,  on  the  ground  that,  however 
possible  he  might  have  found  it  to  serve  with  Peel,  the  fact  that  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  had  first  received  the  King's  commands  "  must 
stamp  upon  the  administration  about  to  be  formed  the  impress  of 
his  name  and  principles." 


642  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXV. 

Dick  Wilson  that  'nothing  in  life  would  give  him  so 
much  pleasure  as  to  see  Eldon  hanged  in  his  robes.'" 

"25th. 
".  .  .  Sefton  and  I  had  a  long  conversation  with 
Howick  *  when  everybody  else  was  gone  to  bed.     It 
is  quite  impossible  that  any  one  could  cut  a  better 
iigure,  either  for  good  sense  or  for  good  and  honorable 
principles.     The    Rump  of  his   father's   Government 
would  have  applied  to  him  in  vain  to  take  office  with 
such  rubbish,  after  their  treatment  of  Lord  Grey.  .  ,  . 
Lord   and   Lady    Frederick  FitzClarence  went   away 
yesterday.  .  .  .  He  is  much  the  best  looking  of  the 
King's   sons.f  .  .  .    The   little   wife,    Lady   Augusta,^ 
tho'  about   the  shyest  person   I  ever  saw,  disclosed 
symptoms  both  of  sense  and  character.     She  has  seen 
a  great  deal  of  the  Queen,  whom  she  pronounces  to 
be    both   sensible   and   good-natured,   but  that,  after 
living  fourteen  years  in  England,  she  has  not  a  single 
-English  notion.     The  Queen's  fix'd  impression  is  that 
an  English  revolution  is  rapidly  approaching,  and  that 
her  own  fate  is  to  be  that  of  Marie  Antoinette,  and  she 
trusts   she   shall  be  able  to  act  her  part  with  more 
courage.     She  only  approves  of  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton, as  being  the  only  man  to  stem  the  revolutionary 
current,  having  an  old  grudge  against  him  and  having 
"very  often  abused  him  in  Lady  Augusta's  presence, 
for  having  turn'd  them  out  of  the  Admiralty,  for  his 
uncourteous  manner  of  doing   it,§  and   for   the   dis- 
respectful way  in  which  he  always  treated  the  King 
when  he  was   Duke   of  Clarence.  .  .  .  Brougham,  in 
his  letter  to  Sefton  yesterday,  let  off  a  madder  prank 
than  ever :  viz. — that   he   had  written   to   Lyndhurst 
offering  to  be  Chief  Baron /or  nothing,  by  which  £7000 
a  year  would  be  saved  to  the  nation,  he  being  quite 

*  Afterwards  3rd  Earl  Grey  :  died  1894. 

t  By  Mrs.  Jordan.  The  eldest  was  created  Earl  of  Munster;  the 
remainder  received  the  rank  of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  a  marquess. 

X  Daughter  of  the  4th  Earl  of  Glasgow, 

§  During  Wellington's  premiership  he  had  been  obliged  to  take 
grave  exception  to  certain  proceedings  of  the  Duke  of  Clarence  in  his 
office  of  Lord  High  Admiral.  First  he  reprimanded  him  very  sharply, 
and  finally  he  removed  His  Royal  Highness  from  office  altogether. 


1834-]  VISIT   AT    HOWICK.  643: 

contented  with  his  pension  as  ex-Chancellor  of  ;^50C«> 
a  year.  .  ,  .  Whether  this  is  pure  spite  to  Scarlett,  or 
pure,  unadulterated  insanity  I  know  not ;  but  I  do- 
know  how  so  ridiculous  a  proposition  will  be  treated. 
.  .  .  Lyndhurst  is  civil  and  dry  in  his  answer  (a  copy 
of  which  Grey  has  shown  me),  and  says  that  the  Duke 
and  himself  will  call  the  earliest  attention  of  Peel  to. 
the  proposal  when  he  returns.  Ld.  Grey  did  not  tell 
me  who  sent  him  the  copies  of  these  letters,  but  I  take 
for  granted  it  was  Lord  Holland,  and  that  Brougham 
had  purposely  selected  Holland  as  the  repository  of 
these  confidential  letters,  and  under  the  most  positive- 
injunctions  of  secrecy,  well  knowing  it  was  the  best 
chance  for  publicity  !  " 

•'  Dec.  3. 
"Well,  the  curtain  is  about  to  drop  upon  my  four 
weeks'  visit  to  an  ex-Prime  Minister.  As  yesterday 
was  a  blank  day  for  London  letters,  Sefton  at  different 
times  expressed  his  delight  at  the  prospect  of  this 
morning  and  the  news  it  would  bring — very  like  an 
indication  of  ennui,  you'll  say.  .  .  .  Lord  Grey  onl}^ 
smiled  and  said : — *  I  don't  expect  any  news,  and 
I  don't  want  any.*  At  the  accustomed  hour  of  ten 
this  morning,  there  stood  a  pile  of  letters  on  his 
plate,  making,  I  should  think,  his  legal  number — 
fifteen.*  So,  having  been  some  time  employed  in 
opening  them  and  circulating  their  enclosures,  either 
by  flinging  them  or  sending  them  on  plates  to  their 
proper  owners,  he  said  at  last : — '  It's  funny  enough, 
of  all  these  letters,  there  is  not  one  for  myself!' 
A  very  good  picture,  this,  for  politicians  to  stud}'', 
and  a  very  pretty  portrait  of  a  retired  one.  The. 
same  tranquillity  and  cheerfulness,  amounting  almost 
to  playfulness,  instead  of  subsiding  have  rather 
encreased  during  my  stay,  and  have  never  been 
interrupted  by  a  single  moment  of  thoughtfulness  or 
gloom.  He  could  not  have  felt  more  pleasure  from 
carrying  the  Reform  Bill,  than  he  does  apparently 
when  he  picks  up  half-a-crown  from  me  at  cribbage. 
A  curious  stranger  would  discover  no  out-of-the-way 

*  I.e.  the  number  which,  as  a  peer,  he  was  entitled  to  receive  free 
of  postage  in  one  day. 


644  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.      [Ch.  XXV. 

talent  in  him,  no  powers  of  conversation ;  a  clever 
man  in  discussion,  certainly,  but  with  no  fancy,  and  no 
judgment  (or  very  little)  in  works  either  of  fancy  or 
art.  A  most  natural,  unaffected,  upright  man,  hos- 
pitable and  domestic ;  far  surpassing  any  man  one 
knows  in  his  noble  appearance  and  beautiful  simplicity 
of  manners,  and  equally  surpassing  all  his  contem- 
poraries as  a  splendid  publick  speaker.  Take  him 
all  in  all,  I  never  saw  his  fellow ;  nor  can  I  see  any 
imitation  of  him  on  the  stocks.  .  .  . 

"  I  never  mentioned  to  you  a  specimen  of  Lady 
Grey's    moral  creed    as    given    me    by    herself      It 

was  just    after  Lady  T had   left   us  ;   so,   being 

alone,   she    said   to   me : — '  I   like    Lady   T :    she 

is  always  good-humoured,  and  she  amuses  me ;  and 
as  she  never  says  anything  to  offend  me  or  those 
belonging  to  me,  I  don't  feel  I  have  anything  to  do 
with  Mr.  Thompson  or  any  other  of  the  lovers  which 
she  has  had.  The  same  with  Madame  de  Dino  and 
the  Duchess  of  B ;  they  are  always  very  good- 
humoured  and  are  very  agreeable  company ;  and  as 
they  never  say  anything  to  offend  me,  I  have  nothing 
to  do  with  all  the  different  lovers  they  are  said  to  have 
had.  I  take  no  credit  to  myself  for  being  different 
from  them  :  mine  is  a  very  lucky  case.  Had  I,  in  the 
accident  of  marriages,  been  married  to  a  man  for  whom 
I  found  I  had  no  respect,  I  might  have  done  like  them, 
for  what  I  know.     I  consider  mine  as  a  case  of  luck.' 

"  Droll,  wasn't  it  ?  " 

"  Tower,  Dec.  20. 

".  .  .  Lyndhurst  said  to  some  one  yesterday: — 
'  D'ye  know  where  Peel's  letter  was  concocted  ?  ' — 
*No,'  said  the  other. — 'At  Brooks's!'  said  Lynd- 
hurst. What  a  wag.  I  should  say  it  would  do  for 
the  present,  and  until  the  Irish  Church  comes  upon  the 
stage,  or  any  other  similar  puzzler.  I  don't  feel  any 
wisn  to  disturb  such  a  government  as  long  as  they 
keep  to  such  a  text.  How  Goulburn,  KnatchbuU,  &e,, 
are  to  swallow  such  Liberalism  I  neither  know  nor 
care.  However,  our  people  are  all  up  in  arms  against 
what  they  call  the  humbug  of  Jenn}'."  * 

•  Peel. 


I834-]  AT   HOLLAND    HOUSE   AGAIN.  645 

"Greenwich  Hospital,  Dec.  23rd. 

"Our  party  at  dinner  on  Sunday  at  Lord  Holland's 
was  the  Duchess  of  Bedford,  Duke  of  Devonshire, 
Mulgrave,  B.  Thompson,  Bickersteth  and  some  one 
else  I  forget.  I  never  was  acquainted  with  the 
Duchess  of  Bedford,  and  since  I  delivered  her  of  her 
London  Bedford  House  in  1S08,  have  always  been 
glad  not  to  come  in  her  way.  However,  on  Sunday 
she  began  before  dinner,  .  .  .  and  when  there  was  an 
opening  after  dinner  she  said — 'Well,  tho'  I  have 
never  had  a  house  in  London  fit  to  live  in  since  that 
disappointment,  I  quite  forgive  you ;  and  I  hope  you 
will  come  and  see  me  at  Woburn  at  any  time  you  like. 
...  I  dine  at  the  Hollands  again  on  Xmas  day — • 
again  to  meet  that  lively  man,  the  Duke  of  Devon- 
shire !  But  we  shall  have  no  want  of  vivacity  on  that 
jolly  day,  as  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  dines  there  likewise. 
...  I  had  two  conversations  yesterday,  each  with  a 
Hume — the  first,  'Joe' — the  second,  Wellington's 
doctor  whom  you  will  remember.  The  first  was 
quite  positive  that  Peel  could  not  number  200  sup- 
porters. My  other  friend,  to  my  surprise,  turned 
about  with  me,  and  expressed  to  me  his  fixed  con- 
viction that  every  attempt  of  the  Duke  and  Peel  to 
procure  a  favorable  House  of  Commons  would  fail." 


(     646    ) 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

1835-1836 

In  the  remaining  years  of  Creevey's  life  he  continued 
comfortably  withdrawn  from  active  political  strife, 
though  he  continued  to  take  a  keen  interest  in  all  that 
was  passing.  He  lived  chiefly  with  the  Seftons ;  but, 
despite  his  deafness,  continued  in  great  request  as  a 
diner-out.  Repeated  attacks  of  influenza,  treated  by 
cupping,  which  he  mentions  as  a  notable  improvement 
upon  the  old  lancet  bleeding,  made  him  subject  to  long 
periods  of  feebleness;  but  his  pen  continued  almost 
as  busy  as  ever. 

Mr.  Crcevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Brooks's,  April  29th,  1835. 

".  .  .  We  have  an  affair  going  on  between  Alvanley 
and  O'Connell.  Alvanley  challenged  him  directly 
when  he  called  him  a  'bloated  buffoon.'  Darner 
Dawson  is  Alvanley's  bottle-holder,  and  as  Dan  had 
returned  no  answer  to  the  demand  upon  him  yester- 
da}^,  which  was  supposed  ample  time,  Dawson  fired  a 
second  shot  into  him.  /  think  Alvanley  quite  wrong- 
in  this,  but  Sefton  is  quite  of  a  contrary  opinion." 

"May  5th. 

".  .  .  About  this  nonsense  of  Alvanley's,  I  consider 
every  part  of  Alvanley's  conduct  as  fai'lty.  His  first 
movement  against  O'Connell  was  political;  it  was  to 


i«35-36.]     CREEVEY  AS  AN  ONLOOKER.        647 

create  disunion  between  O'Connell  and  his  tail  and 
the  Whigs.  Then  I  k}ioiv  that  this  arose  from  spite, 
Alvanley  having  been  lately  refused  a  place  in  the 
Household  which  he  asked  for.  Then  the  publicity 
he  has  given  to  his  challenge  of  O'Connell  is  against 
all  rule.  However,  he  has  been  at  last  accommodated 
by  one  of  the  O'Connell  family,  who  had  3  shots  at 
him  last  night  in  a  duel,  and  no  harm  done  to  either 
party.  .  .  .  Alas,  alas,  the  Widow's  Mite  (you  know 
that  is  the  name  that  has  been  given  by  some  wag  to 
Johnn}'  Russell)*  has  been  beaten  black  and  blue  in 
Devonshire.  .  .  . 

"As  I  was  walking  just  now,  according  to  my 
constant  custom,  in  the  enclosure  in  St.  James's  Park, 
who  should  I  meet  but  Bessy  Holyoake,  alias  Good- 
rick,  all  alone,  having  dismissed  her  footman  at  the 
gate,  and  we  had  a  charming  walk  quite  round  the 
whole,  in  the  course  of  which  we  met,  first  Rogers  and 
Mrs.  Norton  arm  in  arm  ;  then  Goodrick,  the  Duke  of 
Richmond  and  Graham,  ditto ;  then  Lord  Durham  and 
his  3  children."  .  ^  -.,..,.  ^-.'^^?-• 

'■■  :^  •^^^^tS.!ft'^-^**^■    "Brooks's,  i6th. 

".  .  .  After  our  signal  triumph  in  Yorkshire,  which 
-was  quite  invaluable  if  our  blockheads  would  have 
left  it  alone,  they  must  make  that  marplot  Littleton  a 
peer,t  and  so  open  Staffordshire,  as  if  the  puppy  had 
not  done  mischief  enough  last  year  when,  by  his 
intrigues  with  O'Connell,  he  forced  Lord  Grey  out 
>of  the  Government.  Three  days  ago  in  my  favorite 
resort  in  St.  James's  Park  I  met  Brougham  walking. 
.  .  .  He  joined  me — my  first  time  of  seeing  him  since 
the  explosion;  and  a  more  unsatisfactory,  rambling 
discourse  I  never  had  dealt  out  to  me — very,  very  long 
and,  as  far  as  he  dared,  abusing  everybody.  I  was 
heartily  glad  when  this  mass  of  insincere  jaw  came 
to  a  close  by  his  going  to  the  House  of  Lords.  Figure 
to  yourself  at  this  moment,  O'Connell  and  myself 
seated  at  the  same  table  writing,  very  near  each  other, 
and  no  one  else  in  the  room,  and  yet  no  intercourse 
between  us,  tho'  formerly  we  always  spoke.     This  is 

•  Lord  John  Russell,  who  was  of  very  diminutive  stature,  had  just 
married  the  widow  of  the  2nd  Lord  Ribblesdale. 
j  Lord  Ilathcrton. 

2    X 


648  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXVL 

no  matter  of  choice  with  me,  nor  do  I  like  it,  but  after 
his  abuse  of  Lord  Grey,  I  made  up  my  mind  never  to 
speak  to  him  again." 

*'  May  20th. 

".  .  .  Lord  Essex  told  me  on  Sunday  morning  here 
that  Lady  Grey  was  very  anxious  I  should  not  fail  her 
that  day,  as  she  relied  upon  my  protection  of  her 
against  Sir  Joseph  Copley,  of  whom  she  was  horribly 
afraid.  However,  when  1  arrived  there  I  found  there 
was  not  much  danger  of  her  being  overpowered  by 
Copley.  It  is  true  he  was  there,  as  were  his  daughters 
'Coppy'and  Lady  Howick;*  but  there  were  likewise 
Lord  and  Lady  Morley,  Lord  and  Lady  Granville  and 
Col.  Carradock  (as  the  puppy  calls  himself  instead  of 
Cradock),  with  whiskers  quite  enough  to  deter  Cop- 
ley from  any  personal  attack  on  Lady  Grey,  besides 
her  own  private  body-guard  of  Howick,  Charles 
and  Frederic,  with  Ladies  Elizabeth  and  Georgiana. 
'  Coppy '  fell  to  my  lot,  and  I  did  all  I  could  to  be 
agreeable  to  her  at  dinner;  but  both  she  and  Maria, 
from  the  manner  in  which  they  shook  hands  with  me 
at  first,  gave  me  a  kind  of  formal  notice  not  to  presume 
upon  it  or  be  too  familiar  with  them.  I  dare  say,  in 
fact,  that,  knowing  m}^  intimacy  with  the  Greys,  and 
feeling  their  own  artificial  situation  in  the  same 
quarter,  they  consider  me  rather  an  enemy.  To  be 
sure,  they  had  no  great  reason  to  be  set  u^  with  the 
attentions  of  either  my  lord  or  my  lady.  1  hey  knoiv 
that  they  both  think  Ly.  Howick  infernally  imperti- 
nent, as  most  assuredly  she  is.f 

"  In  the  evening  we  had  a  truly  select  addition  to 
our  dinner  party,  consisting  of  the  Dow.  Duchess  of 
Sutherland,  who,  as  Lady  Elizabeth  Bulteel  and  I 
agreed,  has  all  the  appearance  of  a  wicked  old 
woman.  Her  son  and  the  young  Duchess  too — a 
daughter  of  Lord  Carlisle's,  and  a  cousin,  pretty 
enough  and  amiable  and  good,  I  dare  say,  but  with 
such  nonsensical  ruffs  and  lappets  and  tippets  about 

*  Sir  Joseph's  daughter  Maria  had  been  married  to  Lord  Howick 
in  1832. 

t  Lady  Howick  had  been  brought  up  in  a  family  of  Tories,  which 
no  doubt  affected  Creevey's  opinion  of  her,  though  they  had  been  the 
best  of  friends  before  her  marriage. 


1835-36.]  LADY   GREY  AT   HOME.  649 

her  neck  and  throat  that,  coupled  with  her  brother 
Morpeth's  constant  grin,  gives  you  a  strong  suspicion 
of  her  being  a  Cousin  Betty. 

"  My  ears  were  much  gratified  by  hearing  the  names 
'Lord  and  Lady  John  Russell'  announced;  and  in 
came  the  little  things,  as  merry  looking  as  they  well 
could  be,  but  really  much  more  calculated,  from  their 
size,  to  show  off  on  a  chimney-piece  than  to  mix  and 
be  trod  upon  in  company.  To  think  of  her  having  had 
four  children  *  is  really  beyond  !  when  she  might  pass 
for  14  or  15  with  anybody.  Everybody  praises  her 
vivacity,  agreeableness  and  good  nature  very  much, 
so  it  is  all  very  well.  .  .  .  We  had  rather  an  interest- 
ing sprinkling  of  foreigners  too — first  and  foremost 
my  own  well-beloved  and  honest  Alava,  then  the 
ingenuous  Pozzo  [di  Borgo],  with  his  niece  Madame 
Pozzo — a  very  pretty,  nice,  merry  looking  young 
woman.  ...  It  was  a  great  treat  to  me,  too,  to  see 
at  our  party  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  Sebastiani, 
with  his  wife,  sister  to  Lady  Tankerville.f  .  .  .  Let 
me  not  omit  to  mention  that  this  corps  diplomatique 
was  closed  by  the  arrival  of  our  Mandeville,|  who  now 
turns  his  eyes  from  me  as  if  he  loathed  me,  probably 
attributing  Lord  Grey's  altered  manner  to  him  to  my 
having  shown  him  up  as  he  deserves.  I  beg  Cupid 
Palmerston's  pardon !  he,  too,  was  there,  as  also  was 
Lady  Cowper,  if  you  come  to  that.  .  .  .  Well,  Barry, 
as  for  our  Buckingham  Palace  yesterday — never  was 
there  such  a  specimen  of  wicked,  vulgar  profusion.  It 
has  cost  a  million  of  money,  and  there  is  not  a  fault 
that  has  not  been  committed  in  it.  You  may  be  sure 
there  are  rooms  enough,  and  large  enough,  for  the 
money ;  but  for  staircases,  passages,  &c.,  1  observed 
that  instead  of  being  called  Buckingham  Palace,  it 
should  be  the  *  Brunswick  Hotel.'  The  costly  orna- 
ments of  the  state  rooms  exceed  all  belief  in  their  bad 
taste  and  every  species  of  infirmity.  Raspberry- 
coloured  pillars  without  end,  that  quite  turn  you  sick 
to  look  at ;  but  the  Queen's  paper  for  her  own  apart- 
ments far  exceed  everything  else  in  their  ugliness  and 

*  By  her  first  husband,  Lord  Ribblesdale. 
t  A  daughter  of  Antoine,  Due  de  Grammont. 
X  Afterwards  6th  Duke  of  Manchester. 


650  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.     [Ch.  XXVI. 

vulgarity.  .  .  .  The  marble  single  arch  in  front  of  the 
Palace  cost  ;^ioo,ooo*  and  the  gateway  in  Piccadilly  f 
cost  ;^40,ooo.  Can  one  be  surprised  at  people  becoming 
Radical  with  such  specimens  of  royal  prodigality  before 
their  eyes  ?  to  say  nothing  of  the  characters  of  such 
royalties  themselves." 

"  Stoke,  August  23. 

".  .  .  There  was  a  prodigious  to-do  at  the  Castle 
here  the  day  before  yesterday,  it  being  Billy's 
seventieth  birthday — a  dinner  to  150  and  tea  party  to 
as  many  more  ;  in  short,  to  all  the  nibberhood,  always 
excepting  poor  Stoke,  the  residence  of  Maria  Craven, 
Billy's  first  love.|  Oh  perfidious  Billy!  but  as  Sefton 
told  me,  this  omission  was  quite  a  matter  of  course, 
the  family  not  having  written  their  names  at  the 
Castle  this  year.  .  .  .  You  will  be  glad  to  know  that 
amongst  the  visitors  at  the  Castle,  the  I^rd  Mayor 
had  the  honor  to  be  one,  and  not  only  to  dine,  but 
to  stay  all  night.  This  said  Lord  Mayor,  Win- 
chester, is  a  stationer;  and  having  been  employed 
by  a  Tory  Government  for  supply  of  the  Treasury, 
was  formally  dismissed  by  the  same  Government, 
by  regular  Treasury  minute,  for  cheating — that  was 
all.  Another  favored  guest,  both  for  bed  and  board, 
was  Walter,  M.P.  for  Berkshire,  formerl}^  proprietor 
and  editor  of  the  7'/;;/<?5  newspaper. 


"  17,  St.  James  St.,  29  January,  1836. 

".  .  .  There  never  was  such  a  coup  as  this  Muni- 
cipal Reform  Bill  has  turned  out  to  be.  It  marshals 
all  the  middle  classes  in  all  the  towns  of  England  in 
the  ranks  of  Reform  ;  aye,  and  gives  them  monstrous 
power  too.  I  consider  it  a  much  greater  blow  to 
Toryism  than  the  Reform  Bill  itself;  tho'  I  admit 
it  could  never  have  been  effected  without  the  latter 
passing  first.  It  is  a  curious  thing  to  be  obliged  to 
admit,  but  it  is  perfectly  true,  that   Melbourne   and 

•  Now  the  Marble  Arch  in  Hyde  Park. 
t  Now  at  the  entrance  to  Constitution  Hill. 
X  The  Countess  of  Sefton.     Seep.  554. 


1S35-36.]  "BEAR"   ELLICE.  65 1 

the  leavings  of  Lord  Grey's  Government  are  much 
stronger  than  Lord  Grey's  Government  was  when 
it  was  at  its  best.  Altho',  as  old  Talle3^rand  observed, 
Melbourne  may  be  trop  cauiaradc  for  a  Prime  Minister 
in  some  things,  yet  it  is  this  very  familiar,  unguarded 
manner,  when  it  is  backed  by  perfect  integrity  and 
quite  sufficient  talent,  that  makes  him  perfectly  in- 
valuable and  invulnerable." 

"Brooks's,  Feb.  15th. 
",  .  .  The  great  object  of  my  curiosity  at  present 
is  to  see  and  get  hold  of  our  Ellice,*  who  is  just  fresh 
from  Paris,  after  a  residence  of  some  time  there.  He 
has  had  two  very  distinguished  playfellows  there, 
with  whom  he  has  almost  entirely  lived — the  first, 
Madame  Lieven — the  other,  no  less  than  Philippe, 
who  could  scarcely  bear  to  have  him  out  of  his  sight. 
Madame  Lieven's  attachment  to  him  was  intelligible 
enough.  She  knows  her  man,  and  would  be  quite 
sure  to  know  everything  that  he  knows  of  Lord 
Durham  and  his  mission — every  secret  (if  the3'  have 
any)  of  the  present  Government,  and  every  opinion 
entertained  by  Lord  Grey.  What  is  the  bond  of 
union  between  the  Bear  t  and  the  King  of  the  French 
I  am  yet  to  learn.  .  .  .  Ellice  is  ver}'-  vain  (and  who  is 
not  ?) ;  he  is  a  sieve,  and  so  much  the  more  agreeable 
for  those  who  squeeze  him.  .  .  .  What  say  you  to  our 
own  Stanley?  was  there  ever  such  a  case  of  suicide  ?. 
I  really  think  if  I  saw  him  in  the  street  I  should  try 
to  avoid  him  to  save  his  blushes  ;  yet  perhaps  such 
things  are  unknown  to  him." 

"  March  19th. 

"...  I  never  dined  with  Lady  Holland  after  all, 
but  sent  an  excuse  on  account  of  my  gout.  I  really 
can't  stand  the  artificial  bother  and  crowded  table  of 
her  house.  I  admit  that  no  one  can  sail  thro'  such 
difficulties  better  than  myself;  but  still,  her  presump- 
tion is  not  to  be  endured.  How  different  from  the 
affable  demeanour  of  Marianne  Abercromby  with 
whom   and  Mr.   Speaker  I   am  to  have  the  honor  of 

•  The  Right  Hon.  Edward  Ellice,  M.P.  f  Ellice. 


652  THE  CREEVEY  PAPERS.     [Ch.  XXVI. 

dining  this  day;*  and  our  Duke  Barney  f  is  to  take 
me  there." 

"  22nd. 

",  .  .  The  town  at  present  is  kept  in  perpetual 
motion  by  the  Duchess  of  Kent,  everybody  going  to 
her  fetes  at  Kensington  to  see  the  young  King  of 
Portugal,  her  nephew.  Lady  Louisa  [Molyneux]  tells 
me  that  he  is  an  innocent  looking  lad  of  20,  and  that 
he  never  seems  happy  but  when  talking  to  his  cousin 
Victoria,  and  that  then  they  seem  both  supremely 
so.  What  wd.  I  give  to  hear  of  their  elopement  in 
a  cab  f  .  ,  .  I  declare  I  have  not  read  anything  for 
ages  that  has  interested  me  so  much  as  the  Duke  of 
Wellington's  examination  and  evidence  before  the 
Flogging  Commission  in  the  Times  of  to-day.  It  is 
the  image  of  him  in  his  best  and  most  natural  state, 
and  very  entertaining  and  instructive." 

«  28th. 

".  .  .  My  sister  used  to  reproach  me  for  letting  so 
many  of  my  companions  '  get  before  me '  in  life,  and 
used  to  instance  Scarlett  being  a  lord  and  Western 
too  ;  but  her  best  case  v/ould  have  been  Abercromby, 
who  was  a  suitor  to  me  thirty  years  ago  for  any  office 
that  would  secure  him  food  ;  and  here  he  is — Speaker 
of  the  House  of  Commons  !  entertaining  me  in  one  of 
the  finest  houses  in  London,  and  with  the  finest  com- 
pany. We  had  a  great  turn  out  at  dinner  there  on 
Saturday — the  Dukes  of  Norfolk  and  Devonshire, 
Lord  and  Lady  Seymour,  Lord  and  Lady  Howick,  the 
young  Bear  and  Mrs.  Ellice,  Charles  Fox  and  Lady 
Mary,  Lords  Palmerston,  Strafford  and  Ebrington, 
&c.,  &:c." 

"  Stoke,  April  8. 

".  .  .  Our  family  here  [the  Seftons]  was  put  rather 
in  a  fuss  yesterday  by  receiving  a  letter  from  Lad}^ 
Craven,  informing  Lady  Sefton  officially  and  at  some 
length   that  her   daughter's   intended   marriage   with 

*  The  Right  Hon.  James  Abercromby  was  Speaker  from  1835  to 
1839. 

t  The  Duke  of  Norfolk. 


1S35-36.]    ACTION   AGAINST   LORD    MELBOURNE.        653 

Tom  Brand  *  was  broken  off  by  the  young  lady  her- 
self, who  found  out  at  last  (for  the  wedding  day  was 
very  near)  that  she  really  could  not  like  him  enough 
to  marry  him.  Her  principal  objection  against  him 
is  that  he  never  opens  his  mouth  and  that  he  pro- 
scribes any  connection  with  a  book,  A  lively, 
interesting  companion,  it  must  be  admitted.f  Mrs. 
Norton  has  quitted  her  husband,  upon  a  quarrel 
about  a  man  whose  name  I  forget.  She  is  not, 
however,  gone  off  with  this  man,  but  gone  to  the 
Sheridans." 

"Jermyn  St.,  April  23. 

"...  I  dined  with  Madagascar  t  at  Holland  House, 
a  small  party,  and  for  once,  to  my  delight,  plenty  of 
elbow-room.  .  .  .  Whilst  Holland  House  can  be  as 
agreeable  a  house  as  any  I  know,  it  is  quite  as  much 
at  other  times  distinguished  for  iivaddlc,  and  so  it  was 
on  this  occasion." 

"Brooks's,  May  13th. 

".  .  .  Melbourne  has  been  very  ill,  but  is  better, 
and  will  do.  Young,  his  secretary,  told  me  that  he 
had  been  terribly  annoyed  by  the  Norton  concern. 
The  insanity  of  men  writing  letters  in  such  cases  is  to 
me  incomprehensible.  She  has  plenty  of  Melbourne's 
and  others,  but  according  to  what  is  considered  the 
best  authority,  the  Solicitor  General  of  the  Tories — 
Follett — has  saved  Melbourne,  tho'  employed  against 
him.  Follett  is  said  to  have  asked  Norton  if  it  was 
true  that  he  had  ever  walked  with  Mrs.  Norton  to 
Lord  Melbourne's  house,  and  then  left  her  there. 
Upon  Norton's  saying  that  was  so,  Follett  told  him 
there  was  an  end  of  his  action.§ 

"The  jaw  about  this  case  is  now  succeeded  by  the 
breaking  off  of  the  marriage  between  Ld.  Villiers  and 

*  Afterwards  22nd  Lord  Dacre. 

t  In  1840  Lady  Louisa  Craven  married  Sir  G.  F.  Johnstone,  Bart., 
and  after  his  death  she  married  Alexander  Oswald  of  Auchencruive  in 
1844. 

X  Lady  Holland. 

§  The  jury,  without  leaving  the  box,  prcmounced  a  verdict 
acquitting  Lord  Melbourne. 


654  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXVI. 

Lady  — Herbert,  Lady  Pembroke's  daughter.  Lady 
Pembroke's  case  against  Lady  Jersey  is  merely  a 
charge  of  an  attempt  to  get  her  daughter  to  sign  a 
paper  doing  herself  out  of  ;^20,ooo— her  whole  fortune 
— without  any  one's  knowledge." 

"  28th. 
".  .  .  Yesterday  I  dined  at  Holland  House  with 
my  old  and  tried  friend  the  Speaker,  and  Marianne 
[Hon.  Mrs.  Abercromby]  into  the  bargain.  Such  a 
fright  I  never  in  my  life  beheld,  in  a  dress  far  sur- 
passing any  female  crossing-sweeper  on  May  Day.  I 
arrived  just  as  they  had  sat  down  to  dinner,  with  as 
little  room  to  turn  myself  in  as  ever  fell  to  any  man's 
lot,  and  yet  I  was  called  to  both  by  Lord  and  Lady 
Holland  to  leave  room  for  a  very  distinguished 
American  gentleman  who  was  expected  ;  but  1  would 
not  hear  of  such  a  thing,  and  this  led  to  a  good  deal  of 
fun.  The  party  consisted,  besides  the  Abercrombys, 
of  Bob  Adair,  Lord  de  Ros,  the  Attorney  General  and 
his  wife,  the  peeress  Scarlett's  eldest  daughter  (I 
forget  her  title).*  I  found  her  a  very  nice  agreeable 
companion,  apparently  very  amiable,  and  not  the 
least  set  up  with  either  her  father's  peerage  or  her 
own.  Dr.  Lushington  and  Fonblanque,  a  son  of  old 
Fonblanque,  and  writer  of  one  of  the  cleverest  Sun- 
day papers,  w^ere  the  others.  I  took  to  Fonblanque 
much.  The  distinguished  American  arrived  a  quarter 
after  eight,  the  dinner  hour  having  been  half-past  six  ; 
but  he  brought  his  card  of  invitation  with  him  to 
shew  he  was  right.  .  .  ." 

"  Stoke  Farm,  Sept.  6th. 

"  I    came    here    on    Friday ;    visitors  —  Charles 

Greville,    Lords    Charleville    and     Allen,    Standish, 

Townley,    Rogers   and    C.    Grenfell.      Townley   still 

dumb  !  t     Was  there  ever  ?  .  .  .  Sefton  asked  me  if  I 

•  Lady  Abinger's  eldest  daughter,  wife  of  Sir  John  Campbell,  had 
just  been  created  Baroness  Stratheden,  and  her  husband  was  sub- 
sequently created  Baron  Campbell  in  1841. 

t  Mr.  Townley  had  been  courting  Lady  Caroline  Molyneu.v,  but 
delayed  coming  to  the  point.  In  effect,  he  married  her  in  the 
November  following. 


1835-36.]  CASSIOBURY.  655 

had  heard  of ,  I  mean,  his  cheating  at  cards,  and 

upon  my  saying  yes,  he  said  it  was  all  quite  true,  and 
that  his  practice  had  been  so  long  known  to  his 
friends  that  they  had  remonstrated  against  his  pur- 
suing such  a  course,  for  fear  of  detection  ;  but  poor, 

dear,   insinuating  could  not   resist,   and  it  has 

fallen  to  the  lot  of  George  Payne  to  detect  him 
publickly.    The  club  is  to  be  dissolved  in  order  to  get 

rid  of  him.     is  gone  abroad,  and  Sefton  has  a 

letter  from  him — the  most  amusing,  wittiest  letter 
about  all  he  has  seen  !  .  .  ." 

"  Brooks's,  Sept.  16. 
"  Sad  work,  ladies,  sad  work !  Not  a  frank  to  be 
had  for  love  or  money,  so  don't  cry  if  I  don't  catch 
an  M.P.  before  the  post  goes  out,*  I  returned  from 
Cashiobury  [Lord  Essex's]  on  Wednesday,  and  my 
visit  was  all  very  well.  The  Hollands  came  on 
Saturday,  with  Rogers,  Melbourne  on  Sunday,  and 
Glenelg  on  Tuesday.  We  all  left  on  Wednesday — I 
in  Glenelg's  carriage.  I  had  the  offer  of  Rogers's 
carriage  all  to  myself;  but  I  declined  attending  the 
funeral;  by  which  I  mean  Lady  Holland's  procession. 
She  moves  in  her  own  coach  and  four  horses — her 
stipulated  pace  being  four  miles  an  hour,  to  avoid 
jolting!  She  makes  Rogers  go  in  her  coach  with 
Holland  and  herself,  all  the  windows  up;  then 
Rogers's  chariot  follows  empty,  then  my  lady's  chaise 
and  pair  of  posters,  containing  her  maid,  her  rubbery 
page,  footmen,  &c.  .  .  .  Essex  is  a  man  of  very  few 
words  for  compliments;  but  I  took  it  as  a  real 
civility  when  he  said : — '  I  ordered  for  you,  Creevey, 
the  room  that  poor  George  Tierney  was  so  fond  of, 
and  always  had.'  Certainl}^,  a  more  perfect  apart- 
ment I  never  had.  Essex  and  Lady  Holland  were 
growling  at  one  another  all  the  time,  but  she  was 
always  the  aggressor.  Melbourne  and  Holland  were 
all  good  nature  and  gaiety.  The  only  drawback  to 
my  amusement  was  owing  to  my  great  folly  in  walk- 
ing on  Monday  to  see  the  Birmingham  railroad  f  now 

*  He  did  catch  one,  and  the  letter  is  franked  by  Mr.  Kcmeys-Tynte. 
t  Opened  in   1S37 :  now  part  of  the  London  and  North  Westero 
system. 


656  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXVI. 

making,  being  about  four  miles  there  and  back,  which 
has  made  me  dead  lame.  ...  I  think  our  Madagascar 
is  evidently  failing  :  she  looks  wretchedly,  and  there 
is  an  evident  languor  upon  her  that  even  victuals  and 
liquor  don't  remove.  She  came  one  day  and  sat  close 
beside  me  in  the  library ;  and  when  she  had  begun  to 
talk  to  me,  a  little,  tidy  old  woman  came  and  went 
down  on  her  marrow-bones,  and  begun  to  put  her 
hands  up  her  petticoats.  So  of  course  I  was  for 
backing  off  de  suite;  but  she  said: — 'Don't  go, 
Creevey ;  it  is  only  my  rubber,  and  she  won't  disturb 


"  Brooks's,  24th. 

"...  I  dine  at  Crocky's  daily,  where  I  have  got 
the  dinner  down  to  85.  6d. — totd  compris ;  was  I  to  dine 
here,  it  would  certainly  be  2ipund.  .  .  .  My  eye!  what 
a  man  Lord  Fitzallen  is,  if  you  please — just  intro- 
duced— about  7  feet  high,  as  red  as  a  turke3^-cock  and 
covered  with  bushes  of  black  hair  in  mustachios  and 
whiskers.  Thank  God  I  don't  dine  with  ///;;/;  he  is 
really  quite  disagreeable  to  look  at." 

"  30th. 

"...  I  dined  at  Poodle  Byng's  on  Monday — the 
Honble.  Mrs.  Byng  having  been  lady's  maid  to  the 
Poodle's  mother.  You  know  I  have  the  greatest 
aversion  to  playing  at  company  with  such  kind  of 
fds;  but  as  Charles  Greville,  CuUen  Smith  and 
Luttrell,  and  two  or  three  more  of  3^our  men  upon 
town  took  no  objection,  it  was  not  for  me  to  tind 
fault." 

"  Brooks's,  Oct,  4th. 

".  .  .  When  I  was  at  Stoke  I  fell  in  love  with 
Wellington's  Peninsular  dispatches,  published  by 
Gurwood ;  but  as  my  supply  from  that  library  is  now 
cut  off,  and  the  book  itself  too  dear  to  buy,  I  am 
living  upon  Napier's  Pcniusnlar  War,  which  has  been 
given  me  by  Lord  Allen,  because  he  hates  it  so  much. 
.  .  .  Napier  is  a  clever  man,  and  has  taken  great  pains 
with  his  subject ;  but  he  undertakes  too  much  in  his 
criticism  upon  all  the  French  generals  in  Spain,  and 


1S35-36.]  DEATH    OF   CHARLES   X.  657 

all  their  acts.  The  Beau,*  the  real  official  and  efficient 
observer  of  all,  pretends  to  no  such  universal  insight 
into  the  tactics  of  his  enemy  as  is  claimed  by  this 
subaltern  in  his  own  camp.t .  .  ." 

"8th. 
"...  I  shall  certainly  take  your  advice  and  sub- 
scribe to  a  circulating  library;  but  I  have  enough  on 
my  hands  at  present  with  Napier,  who  rises  in  m}^ 
estimation  every  page  I  read  of  him.  His  defence  of 
poor  Moore  is  perfect.  ...  I  think  when  I  next  see 
the  portrait  of  that  villain  Frere  hung  up  at  Holland 
House,  I  shall  not  be  able  to  contain  myself" 

"  Nov.  17th. 
".  .  .  Sefton  said  before  dinner  yesterday: — 'So 
Charles  Dix  %  is  dead  ! '  and  scarce  an  observation 
was  made  from  any  quarter  upon  this  event.  The 
first  year  you  and  I,  Barry,  were  at  Knowsley,  I  saw 
the  said  Charles  Dix  with  his  son  and  Berri  and  their 
respective  gentlemen,  going  in  two  coaches  and  four 
to  Croxteth.  They  did  this  for  years.  When  the 
restoration  in  France  took  place,  there  was  nothing 
that  Charles  Dix  and  his  family  did  not  do  to  show 
their  gratitude  to  the  Seftons  for  past  kindness.  .  .  . 
I  was  present  in  Arlington  Street  when  the  French 
Ambassador  brought,  by  command  of  Charles  Dix,  as 
a  present  to  Lady  Sefton,  his  picture,  with  the  prettiest 
note  possible,  saying  it  was  great  vanity  in  so  old  a 
man  for  him  to  send  his  picture  to  a  lady,  but  hoping 
she  would  receive  it  as  an  acknowledgment  of  all  the 
kindness  he  had  received  from  her.  When  the  last 
Revolution  took  place  in  1830,  and  Charles  Dix  came 
here,  Sefton  shewed  me  a  letter  from  Sir  Arthur 
Paget  (who  had  likewise  been  a  personal  friend  of 
Charles  Dix),  saying  he  considered  it  his  duty  to  go 
and   pay  his  respects  to  him,  and  asking  Sefton  to 

*  The  Duke  of  Wellington. 

t  There  is  some  justice  in  this  criticism  :  at  the  same  time  it  must 
be  remembered  that  Wellington's  despatches  were  contemporaneous  ; 
\\hereas  Napier  was  writing  years  afterwards,  and  with  knowledge 
gained  from  the  enemy's  secret  correspondence. 

X  King  of  France. 


658  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXVI. 

accompany  him,  Sefton  declined,  and  never  did  see 
him.  I  think  I  can  safely  say  1  would  not  have  acted 
thus  for  all  Sefton's  propert}^.  .  .  .  After  all,  Sefton 
will  die  an  unhappy  man,  with  all  the  means  the 
world  can  give  him  to  make  himself,  and  all  around 
him,  happy." 


S.  Mmjoribanks,  M.P.for  Hythe,  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  I  am  just  now  moving  my  quarters  in  London, 
and  I  find  that  I  have  about  3  dozen  of  the  old  East 
India  Sherry  more  than  my  bin  will  hold.  Will  you 
oblige  me  by  accepting  it? 

"S.  Marjoribanks." 


Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Nov.  24th. 

".  .  .  The  Times  newspaper  had  a  statement  from 

's    camp    proclaiming    his   innocence.      This    is 

replied  to  by  another  statement  in  the  Chronicle  of 
to-day — evidently  an  official  article  from  the  camp  of 

Payne  and  Co.,  charging  distinctly  as  a  cheat, 

as  no  doubt  he  is.  Even  his  friend  the  Pet*  gives  him 
up  and  refuses  to  see  him.  He  has,  it  is  true,  some 
little   cause  of  resentment    against  him,  being  sure, 

as  he  tells  me,  that  and  Montrond  cheated  him 

out  of  ;^6ooo  the  Xmas  I  met  them  at  Croxteth." 

*  Lord  Sefton. 


(    659    ) 


CHAPTER  XXVII.,  and  Last. 

1837-1838. 

Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Jermyn  St.,  Jany.  14th,  1837. 

"...  I  am  caught  at  last  by  that  infernal  influenza. 
It's  the  most  marvellous  concern  I  ever  heard  of — 
nothing  but  common  snivelling  and  wholesome 
coughing,  and  yet  producing  such  depression  and  in- 
capacity as  really  to  be  beyond.  No  appetite,  of 
course." 

*'  20th 

".  .  .  What  a  figure  Peel  makes  with  his  Scotch 
sentiment,  his  scenery,  his  young  shepherd  who  was 
so  instructive  to  hear!  The  poor  Spinning  Jenny 
has  acquired  great  power  both  of  thinking  and  speak- 
ing, but  his  works  of  fancy  betray  his  origin.  They 
are  as  like  his  father  as  ever  they  can  be.  1  heard  the 
father  once  say  :— *  I  say,  Mr.  Speaker,  Britannia  is 
seated  on  a  rock  ! '  Here  they  are,  you  see,  both  alike 
in  their  clumsy  capers  after  sentiment.  Only  think  of 
old  Peel  and  Sheridan  !  and  yet  oh  dear,  oh  dear !  the 
difference  of  their  deaths.  I  should  like  to  have  heard 
old  Sherry's  comments  upon  young  Peel's  speeches. 
...  I  am  happy  to  say  that  the  mischievous  crew — 
Sir  Wm.  Molcsworth,  Roebuck,  my  Napier  and  Co.— 
are  becoming  quite  blown  upon  by  their  brother 
Radicals,  which  will  be  a  monstrous  relief  to  the 
Government  in  the  approaching  session.  .  .  ." 

"  Brooks's,  March  nth. 
"...    I    dined    on   Sunday   at   Sefton's   to   meet 
Brougham,  with  Denman,  Radnor  and  others.  .  .   . 


660  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXVII. 

Just  as  we  were  going  away,  Brougham  took  me  aside, 
and,  to  my  great  surprise,  asked  me  if  I  would  dine 
with  him  alone  as  yesterday  at  6  o'clock,  and  that  he 
would  show  me  some  most  curious  correspondence  of 
George  the  third.  I,  of  course,  expected  to  be  put  off 
every  day,  but  no  such  thing.  .  .  .  After  dinner, 
Brougham  read  the  correspondence  to  me  till  between 
II  and  12  o'clock  and  I  have  much  more  to  come.  It 
consisted  of  letters  from  George  the  3rd  to  Lord 
North  as  his  minister,  during  the  whole  of  his  long 
administration.*  Talk  of  the  Creevey  papers,  my  dear ! 
would  that  they  contained  these  royal  letters  !  I  have 
never  seen  anything  approaching  them  in  interest — 
the  cleverness  of  the  writer,  even  in  his  style — his 
tyranny — his  insight  into  everything — his  criticism 
upon  every  publick  parliamentary  man — his  hatred  of 
Lord  Chatham  and  Fox,  and  all  such  rebellious 
subjects — his  revenge ;  but  at  the  same  time  and 
throughout,  his  most  consistent  and  even  touching 
affection  for  Lord  North.  .  .  .  You  would  be  amused 
to  see  the  effect  produced  upon  the  Whig  Govern- 
ment by  this  conduct  of  Brougham  to  myself  .  .  . 
[They  are]  most  desirous  for  me  to  make  some  kind 
of  opening  between  them  and  Brougham,  for  there  is 
no  kind  of  communication  between  them,  and  they 
feel  it  most  unpleasant  to  see  him  every  night  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  and  never  to  feel  sure  whether  he 
will  pounce  upon  them  or  not.  Oh  dear !  to  think  of 
the  prudent  Mr.  Thomas  being  called  in  to  settle  such 
matters ! " 

"  1 8th. 
".  .  .  Would  you  believe  it  that  when  Brougham 
was  Chancellor  he  would  press  the  correspondence 
between  George  the  3rd  and  Lord  North  upon  our 
William,  .  .  ,  his  object  being  that  the  King  might 
see  what  a  constant  and  valuable  support  his  father 
gave  to  his  Ministers,  and  so  induce  King  William  to 
do  the  same  ;  but  all  the  observation  he  could  get  from 
his  master  was  this : — '  George  the  3rd,  my  lord,  was 
di party  man,  which  I  am  not  in  the  least.'" 

*  Corr'espondence  of  Geo7'ge  III.  with  Lord  North  from  176S  to 
1783,  edited  by  W.  Bodham  Donne,  1867. 


1837-38-]         DEATH   OF   MRS.   FITZHERBERT.  66r 

"  Brooks's,  April  21. 

"As  to  poor  Mrs.  Fitzherbert,  I  wish,  as  you  say, 
you  had  some  little  picture  of  her.  She  was  the  best- 
hearted  and  most  discreet  human  being  that  ever  was, 
to  be  without  a  particle  of  talent.  Finding  she  was  in 
town  before  Xmas,  and  dining  most  days  at  home  with 
Lady  Aldborough,  Lady  Radnor  and  others,  I  made 
an  attempt  to  be  taken  into  the  same  party,  but 
entirely  failed.  Mrs.  F.  said  she  had  known  me 
formerly,  but  that  I  had  long  ceased  to  call  upon  her. 
My  offence  I  always  felt  and  knew  to  be  my  foul 
language  about  Prinney  when  he  sought  to  destroy 
his  wife.  Mrs.  F.  might  think  that  my  former  inter- 
course with  him  should  have  restrained  this  vitupera- 
tion, and  that  even  on  her  account  I  shd.  have  stopt 
my  mouth.  Poor  thing,  I  dare  say  she  was  right ;  but 
it  was  more  than  flesh  and  blood  could  resist  not  to 
have  a  blow  at  such  a  villain  in  the  perpetration 
of  such  an  act  of  infamy  and  oppression.  She 
has  left  her  house  in  town  and  her  jewels  to  Mrs. 
Damer  ;  her  house  at  Brighton  and  everything  else 
to  Mrs.  Jerningham.  I  remember  her  telling  me 
a  great  many  years  ago  that  she  had  been  offered 
;^20,ooo  for  her  town  house.  She  can  have  left  no 
other  property.  About  a  year  ago,  she  deposited  all 
her  letters  and  papers  of  every  description  in  the 
hands  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington  and  Lord  Albemarle, 
for  the  purpose  of  being  destroyed  by  them,  as  I  am 
told  they  were ;  but  I  shall  ask  Albemarle  for  an 
account  of  the  transaction.  She  formerly  expressed 
to  me  great  anxiety  to  have  her  correspondence 
published  after  her  death — talked  of  having  two  copies 
made  of  it  for  fear  of  being  betrayed  by  her  executors, 
and  at  one  time  1  almost  thought  she  would  have 
given  me  one  of  such  copies.  .  .  .  Now  then,  attend 
to  Albemarle's  account  just  given  to  me  by  him  as  to 
Mrs.  Fitzherbert's  letters.  She  gave  these  letters  to 
Lord  Albemarle  about  fifteen  years  ago,  to  be  kept  by 
him  till  further  directions ;  her  wish  being  that  after 
her  death  they  might  be  published.  Upon  the  death 
of  the  late  King,*  the   Duke  of  Wellington,  as   his 

*  George  IV. 


662  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXVII. 

executor,  became  possessed  of  all  Mrs.  Fitzherbert's 
letters,  which,  singularly  enough,  had  been  preserved 
with  equal  care  by  Prinney.  Mrs.  Fitzherbert  applied 
to  the  Duke  to  have  her  letters  restored/to  her;  but 
he  refused,  unless  she  consented  to  restore  the  King's 
letters  likewise.  This  led  to  a  negociation  between 
the  Duke  and  Albemarle ;  and  finally  it  was  agreed 
between  them,  with  Mrs.  Fitzherbert's  concurrence, 
that  they  should  all  be  burnt,  and  so  they  were,  at 
Mrs.  Fitzherbert's  own  house,  in  the  presence  of  her- 
self, the  Duke  and  Albemarle.  Oh  dear,  oh  dear! 
that  I  could  not  have  seen  them.  They  begun  in 
1785  and  lasted  to  1806 — one  and  twenty  years.  The 
last  year — 1806 — was  when  the  young  man  fell  in  love 
with  Lady  Hertford,  and  used  to  cry,  as  1  have  often 
seen  him  do,  in  Mrs.  Fitzherbert's  presence.  So  it 
was  high  time  for  their  correspondence  to  cease." 

"  24th. 

"...  I  must  let  Albemarle  rest  for  the  present. 
His  recollections  must  be  full  of  interesting  matter 
from  Mrs,  Fitzherbert's  letters,  which,  at  proper 
seasons,  one  must  endeavour  to  squeeze  out  of  him. 
Lady  Sefton  learnt  from  Damer  Dawson  *  that  both 
the  houses  in  London  and  Brighton  were  left  to 
Minny  [Mrs,  Dawson-Damer],  and  ;^20,ooo  stock,  with 
all  the  jewels,  and  half  of  her  plate;  the  other  half  to 
Mrs.  Jerningham,  to  whom  she  says  in  her  will  she 
had  given  ;^i 5,000  during  her  life.  £1000  each  to  her 
nieces  Lady  Bathurst  and  Mrs.  Craven,  and  there  are 
annuities  to  the  amount  of  p^iooo  a  year,  to  which 
Minny  is  subject  till  they  drop  in. 

"  I  must  just  mention  another  species  of  property 
that  our  Prinney  died  possessed  of.  Perhaps  no  man, 
Prince  or  subject,  ever  left  such  a  wardrobe  behind 
him  as  our  George  the  4th,  and  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton, as  his  executor,  had  to  examine  all  his  coat 
pockets,  in  which  he  found  notes  without  end,  broken 
fans,  &c.,  &c.  Now  I  have  not  the  least  doubt  that 
what  Lord  Cowley  told  Lady  Cowley  was  strictly 
true,  viz.,  that  the  Duke,  in  telling  this  to  his  brother, 

*  The  Right  Hon.  G.  Dawson-Damer.  father  of  the  4th  Earl  of 
Portarlinaton. 


1837-38-]  DEATH    OF   WILLIAM    IV.  66^ 

never  let  him  see  any  one  of  these  notes,  or  know 
any  one  of  their  contents.  The  letters  burnt  at  Mrs. 
Fitzherbert's  were  so  numerous,  that  they  had  to  stop 
every  now  and  then,  from  the  excessive  heat  produced. 
...  I  dine  at  our  Essex's  to-da}-  to  meet  our  *  Clunch  ' 
Althorp,  now  Earl  Spencer,  and,  as  I  hope,  Melbourne. 
.  .  .  1  was  much  amused  at  seeing  our  young,  Victoria 
playing  the  popular  to  her  people  on  the  Birthday. 
.She  passed  this  house  [Brooks's]  in  state — four  royal 
carriages  and  an  escort  of  Horse  Guards.  The 
mother  had  judiciously  chosen  a  chariot  for  herself 
and  daughter,  so  they  were  both  visible  to  all.  The 
young  one  was  rather  too  short  to  nod  quite  above 
the  door,  but  she  was  always  at  it  as  well  as  she 
could,  and  the  mother  looked  quite  enchanted  at  her 
daughter's  reception." 

"  May  2. 

".  .  .  Altho'  I  had  Tavistock*  to  dinner  at  Essex's, 
as  well  as  Clunch, f  it  was  no  great  day  in  point  of 
vivacity.  Clunch  mutters,  and  the  amiable  Tavistock 
is  feeble.  One  thing  I  heard  from  Althorp  f  which  I 
never  knew  for  certain  before,  that  when  Lord  Grey's 
Government  came  in,  one  of  their  first  acts  was  to 
offer  Burdett  a  peerage,  which  he  refused.  Having 
known  and  watched  Burdett  for  nearly  40  years,  I 
am  perfectly  certain  that  his  present  hostility  to  the 
Government  is  attributable  to  the  jealousy  of  his 
character.  Ever  since  I  have  known  him,  he  would 
have  no  rival  ;  and  the  unexpected  and  successful  one 
he  has  found  in  Howick  has  driven  him  mad.  ...  As 
you  observe,  there  is  a  very  general  impression  that 
Vic  is  a  person  with  a  will  of  her  own." 

On  20th  June  King  William  breathed  his  last,  and 
all  eyes  were  directed  upon  the  maiden  who,  little  as 
statesmen  could  expect  it  of  her,  was  destined  to 
redeem  the  Monarchy  from  the  dangerous  disfavour 
into  Vvhich  it  had  been  dragged.     The  circumstances 

•  Afterwards  7th  Duke  of  Bedford. 
t  The  3rd  Earl  Spencer. 

2  Y 


664  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXVII. 

of  the  memorable  Accession  have  been  told  so  often 
that  a  few  quotations  only  will  serve  from  Creevey's 
abundant  references  thereto. 

"  Brooks's,  June  20th. 

"  I  cannot  resist  telling  you  that   our   dear  little 
Queen  in  every  respect  is  perfection.     I  learnt  first  of 
ail  from  the  Duke  of  Argyll  that,  all  the  Privy  Coun- 
cillors being  assembled  round  the  Council  table,  the 
1    Dukes  of  Cumberland  and  Sussex  went  into  an  adjoin- 
I    ing  room,  and  conducted  the  Queen  in.     She  took  her 
I   chair  at  the  head  of  the  table  and  read  her  declaration 
'■  in  the  most  perfect  manner  possible,  and  with  a  most 
powerful  and  charming  voice.     I  have  since  had  all 
the  particulars  from  Tavistock,  who  had  them  from 
Melbourne  himself     She  sent  for  him  at  once,  and 
begged  him  to  draw  up  the  declaration  she  ought  to 
make  ;  which  of  course  he  did,  and  everybody  says 
it  is  admirable.     She  then  put  herself  entirely  in  his 
hands  in  the  best   possible  manner.  .  .  .  Poor   dear 
King  William's  last  act  was   signing  pardons.     Dear 
Lady  Sefton  has  just  been  crying  to  me  on  horseback 
in  the  street  at  her  early  and  royal  friend  dying  so 
beautifully."* 

"  July  24th. 

".  .  .  Frida}^  I  dined  at  Rogers's,  and  thought  I 
understood  from  him  that  Lady  Holland  was  to  be 
my  only  companion,  my  lord  being  picked  up  by  the 
Queen.  Instead  of  that,  however,  I  found  in  addition 
to  Madagascar,  Lord  and  Lady  Langdale,  the  Ameri- 
can Minister  (Stevenson)  and  his  lady,  Lady  Seymour, 
Mrs.  Abercromby,  Lord  Minto,  Pow  Thompson,  Miss 
Rogers  and  Allen.  ...  I  sat  between  Lady  Langdale 
and  Mrs.  Abercromby  .  .  .  the  only  drawback  to  our 
communications  was  that  I  presently  found  we  three 
had  only  three  ears  between  us. 

"  On  Saturday  I  dined  at  Dulwich ;  dinner  in  the 
picture  gallery  for  30 — a  triennial  dinner  to  savants 
and  virtuosos.  Our  artists  were  Chantrey,  Wilson, 
Barry,  Wilkie,  <&:c.,  &c., — our  Mecasnases,  Lansdowne, 

»  See  p.  554. 


1837-38.]  THE   YOUNG   QUEEN.  •  665 

Sutherland  and  Argyll,  the  latter  of  whom  carried  me 
in  his  barouche — poets  and  wags,  Rogers,  Sidney 
Smith  and  Creevey !  .  .  .  Lord  Gre}^  .  .  .  says  that  in 
the  House  of  Lords  he  actually  cried  from  pleasure  at 
the  Queen's  voice  and  speech  ;  and  he  added  that, 
after  seeing  and  hearing  three  Sovereigns  of  England, 
the  present  one  surpasses  them  all — easy — in  every 
respect." 


"29th. 

"...  A  word  or  two  about  Vic.     She  is  as  much 
idolised  as  ever,  except  by  the  Duchess  of  Sutherland, 
who  received  a  ver}^  proper  snub  from  her  two  days    \ 
ago.     She  was  half  an  hour  late  for  dinner,  so  little   | 
Vic   told   her  that   she   hoped   it  might   not   happen  f 
another  time  ;  for,  tho'  she  did  not  mind  in  the  least  ^ 
waiting  herself,  it  was  very  unpleasant  to  keep  her 
company  waiting.    One  day  at  dinner  Lady  Georgiana 
Grey  sat  next  Madame  Liitzen,  a  German  who  has 
been  Vic's  governess  from  her  cradle  ;  and  according 
to  her  there  never  was  so  perfect  a  creature.     She 
said   that    now   Vic   was    at  work  from    morning   to 
night;  and  that,  even  when  her  maid  was  combing 
out   her  hair,  she  was  surrounded  by  official  boxes 
and  reading  official  papers." 


Earl  of  Essex  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"9,  Belc;iave  Square,  7  Aug.,  1837. 

"Dear  Creevey, 

"  The  Duke  of  Sussex  has  at  last  decided  to 
dine  here  next  Saturday  the  12th.  Therefore  I  hope 
I  shall  see  you  on  that  day.  .  .  .  Lord  Munster  has 
pleaded  in  forma  pauperis  to  retain  the  round  Tower 
at  Windsor,  and  I  hear  pays  about  i^iooo  a  3"ear. 
The   Duke   of    Sussex   in    the    handsomest    manner 


666  THE    CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXVIL 

possible  gave  up  his  claim,  and  the  Queen  most- 
kindly  returned  the  baton  to  Lord  Munster,  who  will 
of  course  vote  against  us.  .  .  .  So  the  Duchess  of  St. 
Albans  is  dead,  and  Lyndhurst  married  at  Paris  to 
Lewis  Goldsmith's  daughter.  There  are  /:t'o  greai 
people  amply  provided  for  !  " 


Mr.  Crcevcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

^  "  Brooks's,  Sept.  6th. 

".  .  .  Lady  Tavistock  and  I  had  a  most  confidential 
walk  and  talk.  You  have  heard  me  say  what  a  gab}'- 
she  is ;  but  she  is  all  truth  and  daylight.  She  told  me 
she  was  in  the  second  carriage  after  Vic  on  Sunday 
at  Windsor ;  and  that  the  Queen  according  to  her 
custom,  being  cold  in  the  carriage,  had  got  out  to 
walk,  and  of  course  all  her  ladies  had  to  do  the  same  ; 
and  the  ground  being  very  wet  their  feet  soon  got 
into  the  same  state.  Poor  dear  Lady  Tavistock,  when 
she  got  back  to  the  Castle,  could  get  at  no  dry  stock- 
ings, her  maid  being  out  and  her  cloathes  all  locked 
up.  ...  I  am  sure  from  Lady  Tavistock  that  she 
thinks  the  Queen  a  resolute  little  tit.  .  ,  ." 

"  Jermyn  Street,  Sept.  22. 

"...  I  have  taken  to  Wellington  and  his  dispatches 
again,  and  the  more  I  read  of  him  the  fonder  I  am  of 
him.  He  really  is  in  every  respect  2l  perfect  man.  .  .  . 
Palmerston  was  very  communicative  at  Stoke  as  to 
the  great  merits  of  the  Queen.  He  said  that  an}^ 
Ministers  who  had  to  deal  with  her  would  soon  find 
she  was  no  ordinary  j)erson ;  and  when  Lady  Sefton 
observed  what  credit  it  did  the  Duchess  of  Kent  ta 
have  made  her  what  she  was,  Palmerston  said  the 
Duchess  of  Kent  had  every  kind  of  merit,  but  that  the 
Queen  had  an  understanding  of  her  own  that  could 
have  been  made  by  no  one.  .  .  .  Lady  Charlemont 
succeeded  Lady  Tavistock  the  other  day  [in  waiting 
at  Windsor].  She  is  very,  very  blue,  and  asked  Lady 
T.  if  she  might  take  any  books  out  of  the  library.  '  Oh 
yes,  my  dear,'  said  Lady  Tavistock,  not  knowing  what 
reading  means,  'as  many  as  you  like;'  upon  which 


1837-38.]  BRIGHTON    REVISITED.  667 

Lady  Charlemont  swept  away  a  whole  row,  and  was 
carrying  them  away  in  her  apron.  Passing  thro'  the 
gallery  in  this  state,  whom  should  she  meet  but  little 
Vic !  Great  was  her  perturbation,  for  in  the  first  place 
a  low  curtsy  was  necessary,  and  what  was  to  come 
of  the  books,  for  they  must  curtsy  too.  Then  to  be 
found  with  all  this  property  within  the  first  half  hour 
of  her  coming,  and  before  even  she  had  seen  Vic  !  .  .  . 
But  Vic  was  very  much  amused  with  the  thing  alto- 
gether, laughed  heartily  and  was  as  good  humoured 
as  ever  she  could  be.  .  .  ." 

"  Brighton,  Oct.  9th. 

".  .  .  Now  for  Brighton !  Barry,  my  dear,  it  is 
detestable :  the  crowd  of  unknown  human  beings  is  not 
to  be  endured.  .  .  .  Whether  it  is  a  natural  sentiment 
or  not,  I  don't  know,  or  whether  I  mistake  ennui  for 
it,  but  I  have  a  strong  touch  of  melancholy  in  com- 

Baring  Brighton  of  the  present  with  times  gone  by. 
►eath  has  made  great  havoc  in  a  very  short  time  with 
our  Royalties  of  the  Pavilion — Prinney  and  '  brother 
William,'  Duke  of  York  and  Duke  of  Kent,  all  gone, 
and  all  represented  now  by  little  Vic  only.  Is  it  not 
highly  dramatic  that  the  Duke  of  Kent  should  have 
announced  to  me  in  1818,  upon  Princess  Charlotte's 
death,  that  he  was  going  to  marry  for  the  succession, 
and  named  his  bride  to  me;  and  here  she  is,  with  the 
successor  by  her  side,  and  what  is  to  become  of  her, 
or  how  she  is  to  turn  out,  who  shall  say? 

"...  In  talking  to  Lady  Cowper  of  Lord  Melbourne, 
and,  as  I  suppose,  of  his  health,  Vic  said  : — '  He  eats 
too  much,  and  I  often  tell  him  so.  Indeed  I  do  so 
myself,  and  my  doctor  has  ordered  me  not  to  eat 
luncheon  any  more.' — 'And  does  your  Majesty  quite 
obey  him?'  asked  Lady  Cowper.  *  Why  yes,  I  think 
I  do,'  said  Vic,  'for  I  only  eat  a  little  broth.'  Now  I 
think  a  little  Queen  taking  care  of  her  Prime  Minister's 
stomach,  he  being  nearly  sixt}',  is  everything  one  could 
wish !  If  the  Tory  press  could  get  hold  of  this  fact, 
what  fun  they  would  make  of  it.  .  .  .  The  Duchess  of 
Kent  plays  whist  every  night,  and  a  horrible  player 
she  is.  Vicky,  I  am  happy  to  say,  always  plays  chess 
with  Melbourne  v^'hcn  he  is  there." 


668  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXVII. 

"Brighton,  Oct.  13th. 

".  .  .  Yesterday  Lady  Sefton,  her  two  eldest 
daughters  and  myself,  sallied  forth  in  the  yellow 
coach  to  dine  with  the  Queen  at  our  own  old  Pavilion. 
Lord  Headfort,  a  chattering,  capering,  spindle-shanked 
gaby,  was  in  waiting,  and  handed  Lady  Sefton  into 
the  drawing-room,  where  I  was  glad  to  see  Glenelg, 
and  besides  him  were  Tom  Bland  and  a  Portuguese 
diplomat,  as  black  in  the  face  as  one's  hat,  but  with  a 
star  on  his  stomach,  I  assure  you !  Presently  Head- 
fort  was  summoned  away,  and  on  his  return  he  came 
up  to  me  with  his  antics  and  said  : — *  Mr.  Creevey,  you 
are  to  sit  on  the  Duchess  of  Kent's  right  hand  at 
dinner.' — Oh,  the  fright  Lwas  in  about  my  right  ear! 
.  .  Here  comes  in  the  Queen,  the  Duchess  of  Kent 
the  least  bit  in  the  world  behind  her,  all  her  ladies  in 
a  row  still  more  behind  ;  Lord  Conyngham  and  Caven- 
dish on  each  flank  of  the  Queen.  .  .  .  She  was  told  by 
Lord  Conyngham  that  I  had  not  been  presented,  upon 
which  a  scene  took  place  that  to  me  was  truly  dis- 
tressing. The  poor  little  thing  could  not  get  her  glove 
off.  I  never  was  so  annoyed  in  my  life ;  yet  what 
could  I  do?  but  she  blushed  and  laughed  and  pulled, 
till  the  thing  was  done,  and  1  kissed  her  hand.  .  .  . 
Then  to  dinner.  .  .  .  The  Duchess  of  Kent  was  agree- 
able and  chatty,  and  she  said  : — '  Shall  we  drink  some 
wine?'  My  eyes,  however,  all  the  while  were  fixed 
upon  Vic,  To  mitigate  the  harshness  of  any  criticism 
I  may  pronounce  upon  her  manners,  let  me  express 
my  conviction  that  she  and  her  mother  are  one.  I 
never  saw  a  more  pretty  or  natural  devotion  than  she 
shows  to  her  mother  in  everything,  and  I  reckon  this 
as  by  far  the  most  amiable,  as  well  as  valuable,  dis- 
position to  start  with  in  the  fearful  struggle  she  has 
in  life  before  her.  Now  for  her  appearance — but  all 
in  the  strictest  confidence.  A  more  homely  little  being 
you  never  beheld,  when  she  is  at  her  ease,  and  she  is 
evidently  dying  to  be  always  more  so.  She  laughs  in 
real  earnest,  opening  her  mouth  as  wide  as  it  can  go, 
showing  not  very  pretty  gums.  .  .  .  She  eats  quite  as 
heartily  as  she  laughs,  I  think  I  may  say  she  gobbles. 
.  .  .  She  blushes  and  laughs  every  instant  in  so  natural 
a  way  as  to  disarm  anybody.    Her  voice  is  perfect,  and 


\iscoL-xr  Mi.i.isurkxi-:. 


{To  face  p.  668. 


1837-38.]  THE   MARQUESS   WELLESLEY.  669 

SO  is  the  expression  of  her  face,  when  she  means  to  say 
or  do  a  pretty  thing.  ...  At  night  I  played  two  rubbers 
of  whist,  one  against  the  Duchess  of  Kent,  and  one  as 
her  partner.  .  .  .  The  Queen,  in  leaving  the  room  at 
night,  came  across  quite  up  to  me,  and  said  : — '  How 
long  do  you  stay  at  Brighton,  Mr.  Creevey  ?'  Which 
I  presume  could  mean  nothing  else  than  another 
rubber  for  her  mother.     So  it's  all  mighty  well." 

Countess  Grey  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Howick,  Oct.  loth. 

"...  I  hope  you  are  amused  at  the  report  of  Lord 
Melbourne  being  likely  to  marry  the  Queen.  For  my 
part  I  have  no  objection.  I  am  inclined  to  be  very 
loyal  and  fond  of  her;  she  seems  to  be  so  considerate 
and  ^ood-natured,  and  I  am  particularly  pleased  with 
her  just  now  for  having  sent  to  desire  Caroline*  to 
brin^  her  little  girl  with  her  when  she  is  to  be  in 
waiting." 

Marquess  Wellesley  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"  Hurlingham  House,  Fulham,  Oct.  28th,  1837. 

"My  dear  Mr,  Creevey, 

'*  In  returning  my  grateful  thanks  for  your 
very  kind  congratulations,!  I  trust  you  will  believe 
that  I  fully  appreciate  their  value.  You  are  not  of 
that  sect  of  philologists  who  hold  the  use  of  language 
to  be  the  concealment  of  thought,  nor  of  that  tribe  of 
thinkers  whose  thoughts  require  concealment.  You 
would  not  congratulate  me  on  the  accession  of  any 
false  honor,  the  result  of  prejudice  or  error  or  of  the 
passionate  caprice  of  party,  or  of  idle  vanity,  or  of  any 
transient  effusion  of  the  folly  of  the  present  hour  ;  but 
you  think  the  deliberate  approbation  of  my  Govern- 
ment in  India  declared  by  the  Court  of  Directors  (after 
the  lapse  of  thirty  years — after  full  experience  of  con- 
sequences and  results,  and  after  full  knowledge  of  all 

*  Lady  Caroline  Barrington,  Lady  Grey's  daughter. 

t  The  East  India  Company,  with  whom  Wellesley  had  been  at  sore 
issue  in  the  early  years  of  the  century,  had  just  \oted  ^20,000  to  purchase 
an  annuity  for  him. 


6/0  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXVII. 

my  motives,  objects  and  principles)  a  just  cause  of 
satisfaction  to  me.  ...  In  truth  the}^  have  awarded 
to  me  an  inestimable  meed  of  honor,  which  has  healed 
much  deep  sorrow,  and  which  will  render  the  close  of 
a  long  public  life  not  only  tranquil  and  happy,  but 
bright  and  glorious.  .  .  .  Our  friend  Sir  John  Harvey 
most  appropriately  has  been  dubbed  a  Governor. 
What  wisdom  in  those  who  made  the  appointment ! 
'  II  est  du  bois  dont  on  fait  les  gouverneurs.'  He  was 
certainly  born  'your  Excellency.'  I  think  I  see  him 
strutting  up  to  his  petty  throne,  preceded  by  Harry 
Gre}'',  Ellice,  Shaw,  Carnac,  &c.,  wiiJi  his  stomacli  doubly 
embroidered ;  condescending  to  let  an  occasional  foul 
pun  now  and  then  with  majestic  benignity." 


Mr.  Creevey  to  Miss  Ord. 

"Jermyn  St.,  Nov.  3. 

"Both  Melbourne  and  Lord  and  Lady  John  Russell 
wanted  much  to  know  from  the  Seftons  how  it  was 
that  I  had  amused  the  Duchess  of  Kent.  The  only 
solution  I  can  offer  is  this.  By  common  consent,  the 
Royal  evenings  are  the  dullest  possible,  and  no  one 
presumes  to  attempt  to  make  them  livelier.  The 
Duchess  of  Kent  is  supposed  to  play  at  cards  to  keep 
herself  awake — scarcely  ever  with  success,  I  can 
imagine,  therefore,  a  little  running  fire  of  a  wag- 
tickling  her  ears  at  the  time,  and  leaving  a  little 
deposit  on  her  memory.  I  know  no  other  ground  on 
which  I  can  build  my  fame.  .  .  .  Just  let  me  mention 
that  the  Sir  John  Harvey,  mentioned  in  Wellesley's 
letter  as  the  new  governor  of  Prince  Edward's  Island, 
was  at  the  head  of  the  police  when  I  was  in  Dublin, 
and  I  met  him  at  dinner  at  the  Lord  Lieut.'s  [Wellesley] 
— a  large,  handsome  man,  but  by  far  the  most  vulgar 
would-be  gentleman  you  ever  beheld,  extremely 
dressy  withal,  and  my  lord  always  remembered  my 
asking — '  Who  was  the  gentleman  with  the  em- 
broidered stomach  ? ' " 

"  Jermyn  St.,  Nov.  loth. 

"  Let  me  see  ;  where  am  I  to  begin  wdth  my  past 
movements.     Suppose  I  say  Sunday  last,  when  I  was 


1837-38-]     DINNER  WITH  THE  DUKE  OF  SUSSEX.       671 

told  by  Stephenson  that  the  Duke  of  Sussex  desired 
particularly  that  I  would  dine  with  him  ;  so  I  was 
obliged  to  excuse  myself  to  my  Essex,  where  I  was 
engaged  to  meet  Sydney  Smith.  I  have  yet  to  learn 
zvhy  1  was  so  specially  summoned  by  little  Sussex,  as 
there  were  only  his  household — Ciss  *  and  the  men — 
with  Charley  Gore  and  me,  and  nothing  said  worth 
remembering.  .  .  .  Monday  at  Essex's,  with  the  ac- 
customed sprinkling  of  artists,  which  I  am  quite 
accustomed  to,  and  indeed  like.  Tuesday  at  Charles 
Fox's,  Addison  Road — no  joke  as  to  distance ;  8 
shillings  coach  hire  out  and  back,  besides  turnpikes  ! 
The  company  —  Madagascar,!  Allen,  Babbage  the 
philosopher,  Hamick  (Lord  Grey's  doctor  and 
baronet).  Van  de  Weyer,  Belgian  Minister,  Hed- 
worth  Lambtonl  and  wife,  an  unknown  man,  and 
Melbourne.  ...  In  the  evening  we  had  the  bride, 
Lady  Winchilsea,§  of  whom  I  had  heard  so  much  ; 
she  certainly  did  appear  to  me  as  beautiful  a  woman 
as  I  had  ever  seen.  Wednesday  at  Powell's  :  com- 
pany —  Duke  of  Norfolk,  Albemarle,  old  Billy 
Russell, II  Stephenson  Blount  and  myself 

«'25th. 

"...  I  dined  on  this  day  week  at  Brougham's — a 
duet  ;  and  a  more  artificial  chap  I  never  had  to  do 
with;  except,  indeed,  that  his  temper  not  infrequently 
betrayed  him,  and  shewed  him  in  a  state  of  the  most 
spiteful  insurrection  against  the  present  Govt.  You 
see  he  is  distinctly  shewing  his  teeth  in  the  Lords, 
and  will  fasten  them  on  the  Government  before  he  is 
a  few  days  older.  I  quite  approve  of  what  he  has 
already  said  there,  tho'  not  of  his  spiteful  motives  in 
doing  it."  '  ' 

*  The  Duke  of  Sussex's  wife,  Lady  Cecilia  Buggin,  afterwards 
created  Duchess  of  Inverness. 

t  Lady  Holland. 

+  Younger  brother  of  the  ist  Earl  of  Durham. 

§  Daughter  of  the  Right  Hon.  Sir  Charles  Bagot. 

II  Lord  William  Russell,  son  of  the  4th  Duke  of  Bedford  :  murdered 
by  his  valet,  1840. 


6/2  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXVII. 

«  Dec.  4th. 
"...  I  met  Hayter  one  day  this  week  at  Lord 
Essex's,  and  asked  him  to  tell  me  anything  new  about 
the  little  Queen.  He  said  she  was  quite  as  amiable 
and  kind  and  lively  as  ever.  He  has  got  on  a  good 
way  with  the  State  picture  he  is  making  of  her.  She 
said  to  him  the  other  day  :— '  I  am  very  curious  to 
know  how  you  mean  to  place  my  hands.  Just  take 
them  and  place  them  as  you  intend  in  the  picture.' 
A  very  delicate  commission  to  execute,  as  Hayter 
observed  ;  but  he  did  so ;  and  then  the  Queen  turned 
to  Lady  Mulgrave  and  said  :— '  I  have  often  thought, 
if  I  had  to  paint  a  Queen,  how  I  would  place  her 
hands  ;  and,  curiously  enough,  this  is  the  very  position 
I  had  hit  on.'" 

"  15th. 

".  .  .  Cutlar  Ferguson  *  is  most  enthusiastic  about 
the  Queen.  He  has  had  to  lay  before  her  about 
twenty  Courts  Martial— only  think  of  such  a  subject 
for  a  girl  of  18 !  After  seeing  the  Judge  Advocate, 
she  is  closeted  with  the  Commander-in-chief,  Lord 
Hill,  upon  the  same  matter ;  and  Ferguson  tells  me 
that  both  Lord  Hill  and  himself  are  lost  in  astonish- 
ment at  the  manner  in  which  she  makes  herself  under- 
stand these  matters.  Ferguson  dined  at  the  palace  a 
few  nights  ago— one  of  the  fog  nights— so  that  when 
he  arrived  he  found  to  his  horror  that  the  Queen  had 
been  at  dinner  20  minutes.  When  he  was  about  to 
take  the  opportunity  after  dinner  of  apologising  for 
being  so  late,  the  Queen  begun  first  by  saymg :— '  I 
said  before  dinner,  I  am  sure  Mr.  Ferguson  is  stopt 
in  the  Park  by  the  fog.'  Is  she  not  a  handy  little 
Vic?  .  .  ." 


Lady  Louisa  Molyncux  to  Mr.  Creevey. 

"Arlington  St.,  Dec.  26,  1837. 

".  .  .  Punch  Greville  is  at  present  our  best  re- 
source, and  Poodle  Byng  now  and  then  drops  in,  it 
would   be   ungrateful   to    say,   without   contributing 

*  Judge  Advocate  General. 


1837-38.]  HOLKHAM.  e^Z 

much  to  our  amusement.  We  have  been  tempted  to- 
day to  go  to  the  Magnetism — a  most  disagreeable 
sight ;  but  nobody  can  persuade  me  it  is  a  sham.  Its 
utility  may  be  a  question,  but  it  is  impossible  to  see 
the  poor  people  of  all  ages — some  quite  children  out 
of  the  hospitals — under  the  influence,  and  suppose 
they  have  been  taught  to  impose  upon  you.  The 
best  part  of  the  entertainment  was  Lady  Aldborough 
in  an  opera  hat,  large  diamond  ear-rings,  and  rouged 
up  to  the  eyes,  trying  to  put  the  operator  out  of 
countenance  by  her  noisy  questions,  and  bouncing 
out  of  the  room,  declaring  disbelief  in  the  whole 
thing.  .  .  ." 


Mr,  Creevey  to  Miss  Ovd. 

"  Holkham,  Dec.  29th. 

*',..!  had  this  cold  on  me  before  I  left  London  ; 
it  did  not,  however,  prevent  me  from  dancing  down 
twenty-five  couples  in  a  country  dance  last  night — 
my  partner.  Dowager  Anson.  It  was  the  usual  Xmas 
ball  for  servants  in  the  audit  room.  .  .  ,  The  Earl  of 
Leicester,  aged  85,  opened  the  ball.  He  is  a  mar- 
vellous man,  but  I  think  he  is  going  out,  tho'  he  burns 
as  bright  as  bright  to  the  last.*  Ellice  was  a  real 
treasure  to  me  during  our  two  days'  journey  down 
here.  No  one  is  more  mixed  up  with  passing  events 
in  the  world  than  he  is.  He  hears  daily  from  Mel- 
bourne, and  I  know  to  a  turn  the  present  rickety 
nature  of  poor  Melbourne's  cabinet." 

"  Holkham,  Jany.  3id,  183S. 

".  .  .  The  worst  thing  of  all  for  the  Government  is 
this.  Aber,  even  our  own  Aber,t  won't  stand  an}' 
longer  being  given  up  to  be  devoured  by  the  dogs  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  and  no  Ministers  of  the  Crown 
to  protect  him.  I  saw  from  the  first,  when  he  was  left 
unprotected,  and  when  he  made  his  pathetic  and  most 
unsuccessful  appeal  to  the  House  to  rally  round  him, 
that  he  was  done.     Of  all  the  mistakes  John  Russell 

*  He  died  in  1S42,  outliving  Creevey  by  four  years. 
t  The  Speaker. 


6/4  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXVII. 

has  made,  and  they  have  been  numerous,  this  is  the 
greatest,  and  in  my  opinion  it  is  irreparable.  It  is  the 
first  instance  in  the  history  of  the  House  of  Commons 
of  the  Speaker  being  publickly  worried  by  its  members 
and  the  Government  to  sit  by  and  take  no  part.  .  .  . 
Then,  alas  !  tho'  last,  not  least,  ...  in  truth  little  Vic 
and  her  mother  are  not  one,  tho'  Melbourne  knows  of 
no  other  cause  of  this  disunion  than  Conroy,  whom 
the  Duchess  of  Kent  sees  still  almost  daily,  and  for  a 
long  time  together.  Melbourne  speaks  of  the  young 
one  with  the  same  enthusiasm  as  ever,  and  has  the 
highest  opinion  possible  of  her  understanding.  The 
jpart  she  at  present  plays  is  putting  herself  unre- 
servedly into  the  exclusive  management  of  Melbourne, 
without  apparently  thinking  of  any  one  else.  This, 
at  all  events,  must  be  a  great  relief  and  support  to 
him,  whilst  it  lasts.  In  the  midst  of  one's  croaking, 
there  is  another  source  of  consolation — that  the 
Tories  never  appeared  in  a  more  forlorn  and  shattered 
condition,  or  less  likely  to  turn  all  our  blunders  to 
their  own  advantage.  .  .  .  Lord  Leicester  shoots  daily  ; 
amongst  other  companions  and  competitors  are  his 
3  sons.  The  eldest.  Lord  Coke,*  aged  15,  on  Xmas 
Day  shot  5  woodcock,  and  always  shoots  from  30  to 
40  head  daily." 

"  Jermyn  Street,  17th. 
"You  see,  my  dear,  that  towards  the  end  of  last 
week  our  EUice  received  a  dispatch  from  Lord  Durham 
saying  he  had  accepted  the  mission  to  Canada,  but 
that  he  could  do  nothing  without  Ellice.  So  we  left 
Holkham  on  Saturday.  .  .  .  My  companion  continued 
to  the  last  as  communicative  as  ever.  .  .  .  Lord 
Leicester  is  a  marvellous  man  in  everything,  but 
above  all  in  his  clear  and  perspicuous  telling  of 
stories,  of  which  he  has  great  abundance.  I  was 
much  amused  one  day  when  he  was  driving  me,  upon 
Lady  Holland's  name  being  mentioned,  he  said  to 
me : — '  I  hope  we  shall  find  Charles  Fox  and  Charlie 
Gore  when  we  get  home.  I  am  very  fond  of  Charles 
Fox,  and  particularly  of  Lady  Mary.'  I  remarked 
that   I   had   never  heard  of  Lord   Holland  being   at 

*  The  present  Earl  of  Leicester. 


1 


1837-38.]   LADY  CHARLOTTE  BURY'S  BOOK.      675 

Holkham,  and  yet  that  of  course  he  must  have  been. 
'No,'  said  he,  'his  uncle  Charles  used  to  live  here, 
and  I  have  often  asked  Lord  Holland,  but  of  course 
he  would  not  come  without  Lady  Holland,  and  it  was 
quite  out  of  the  question  my  asking  her.  I  dine  at 
Lord  Holland's  now  and  then.  When  I  do  so,  I  am 
as  attentive  as  I  ought  to  be  to  Lady  Holland,  and 
there  is  no  kind  of  flattery  she  does  not  apply  to  me  ; 
but  it  won't  do  !  She  is  not  a  woman  I  approve  of  at  all. 
I  am  only  surprised  that  so  many  people  have  been 
bullied  by  her  to  letting  her  into  their  houses.  For 
myself,  I  have  always  made  up  my  mind  that  she 
should  never  enter  mine,'  Bravo!  King  Tom.  What 
a  charming  subject  to  plague  her  with  the  first  time 
she  gives  me  any  offence.  .  .  .  Certain  it  is  that  this 
Holkham  is  by  far  the  greatest  curiosity  in  England." 


Lady  Louisa  Molyiicux  to  Mr.  Crcevcy. 

"Arlington  St.,  Jan.  17th,  1838. 

".  .  .  Papa  has  found  some  amusement  in  a  book 
that  occupies  everybody  now — more,  it  appears,  from 
its  atrocity  than  from  any  merit  it  has — Mcuioircs  et 
correspondence  of  Queen  Caroline,  edited  by  Lady 
Charlotte  Bury,  in  which  there  are  so  many  bad 
stories  ill  told,  and  so  many  personal  remarks  on 
living  people,  that  I  cannot  imagine  anybody  ever 
speaking  to  her  again.  Her  name  is  not  to  the  book, 
but  everybody  knows  it  is  hers. 

"  Poodle  Byng,  &c.,  have  tried,  it  seems,  rather  a 
dangerous  experiment  with  the  [new]  House  of 
Commons,  by  which  they  lighted  it  so  brilliantly 
that  you  could  read  the  smallest  print ;  and  if  you 
held  a  candle  to  the  paper  it  added  no  light  to  the 
dazzling  glare,  which  came  from  5000  apertures  in 
gas-pipes  between  the  roofs,  where  the  thermometer 
was  at  120,  and  kept  rising!  They  had  fire  engines 
in  attendance,  and  a  hose  laid  along  every  gas-pipe 
for  fear  of  accidents  ;  but  they  will  not  venture  to  try 
it  again.  .  .  .  Think  of  Lord  Foley  having  sold  Witley 
to  Ld.  Ward  *  for  ^890,000!     He  was  some  little  time 

*  Created  Earl  of  Dudlcv  in  i860. 


6^6  THE   CREEVEY  PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXVII. 

in  making  up  his  mind  to  part  with  the  place  they 
were  all  so  fond  of;  but  he  will  now  have  ;!^i9,ooo  a 
year  without  any  debt,  instead  of  being  the  wretched 
impoverished  man  he  was.*  I  have  had  a  letter  from 
Alava,  who  says  of  Sir  John  Colbornet : — '  J'ai  grande 
confiance  dans  Colborne — officier  du  premier  ordre, 
tres  aime  et  tres  estime  tant  de  Sir  J.  Moore  comme 
du  Due  de  Wellington,  et  quel  bel  eloge !  II  est  non 
seulement  excellent  militaire,  mais  qualifie  pour  toute 
espece  de  commandement,  et  d'une  moralite  et  probite 
dignes  d'autres  temps.' 

"The  burning  of  the  Royal  Exchange  has  put  the 
City  in  great  dismay.  They  are  very  quiet,  and  were 
to  give  ;^i6,ooo  this  morning  at  9  o'clock  for  a  house 
in  Lombard  Street,  to  go  on  with  at  present,  and  meet 
there  at  twelve.  I  hope  the  poor  bells  chiming  their 
death  song  brought  tears  into  your  eyes." 

Mr.  Crcevcy  to  Miss  Ord. 

"  Jermyn  St.,  27th. 

"...  I  have  really  been  so  disturbed  in  my  mind 
by  this  Canada  Bill  that  I  could  not  write  till  its  fate 
was  decided.  I  am  at  a  loss  for  words  to  express  my 
contempt  for  the  Government  in  the  endless  bungling 
they  have  made  on  this  occasion.  Never  was  there 
such  a  piece  of  luck  for  them  as  the  Canada  rebellion, 
its  speedy  reduction,  and,  above  all,  the  opportunity 
it  afforded  of  considering  past  errors  and  making  a 
wise  and  just  arrangement  for  the  future.  All  man- 
kind was  with  them  upon  this  subject ;  but  some 
maniac  or  demon  in  their  counsels  would  mar  all 
these  advantages  by  the  manner  or  form  of  their  Bill 
of  Redress.  I  said  from  the  first  that  every  word 
uttered  by  Peel  was  gospel,  and  that  nothing  was  left 
for  the  Government  but  to  go  down  on  their  marrow- 
bones and  to  withdraw  the  gratuitous,  useless  and 
unconstitutional  parts  of  their  own  Bill.  To  think, 
too,  of  their  volunteering  Glenelg's  instructions  to 
Durham.  .  .  .  Well,  but  now  let  me  have  done  with 

*  See  p.  595. 

t  Created   Lord   Seaton  in  1839.     Was   Lieutenant-Governor  of 
Lower  Canada. 


1837-38.]  WHERE   SHALL   I   GO   NEXT?  6^7 

this  disgusting  hash,  and  'where  shall  I  go  next  ?j 
Wh}^  to  Earl  Durham  himself,  I  think,  with  whom  I 
dined  at  the  Duke  of  Norfolk's  on  Tuesday,  and  no 
one  could  be  more  affable  and  conciliatory  than  our 
Canada  chief  He  had  seen  the  Queen  that  morning, 
and  I  made  him  describe  the  meeting.  After  being 
presented  by  Glenelg,  the  Queen  made  a  sign  to  the 
latter  to  withdraw,  and  then  some  conversation  took 
place  between  the  Queen  and  her  Ambassador,  in 
which  the  latter  [Durham]  expressed  his  earnest 
hopes  that  he  might  enjoy  her  Majesty's  permission 
to  extend  her  clemency  in  any  degree  towards  her 
revolted  Canadian  subjects.  This  she  accorded  in 
the  fullest  and  most  gracious  manner,  Durham  was 
full  of  her  praises  —  of  her  sense  and  excellent 
manners,  but  he  admitted  to  me  that  neither  on  that 
occasion  nor  any  other  did  she  utter  a  word  to  him 
on  what  we  call  politics. 

"  A  propos  to  our  little  Vic — we  are  all  enchanted 
with  her  for  her  munificence  to  the  Fitzclarences.  Be- 
sides their  pensions  out  of  the  public  pension  list,  they 
had  nearly  ;^  10,000  a  year  given  them  by  their  father  * 
out  of  his  privy  purse,  every  farthing  of  which  the 
Queen  continues  out  of  her  privy  purse,  with  quanti- 
ties of  other  such  things.  For  an  instance  within  my 
own  knowledge  —  Sir  John  Lade,  a  very  rich  man, 
and  once  the  greatest  crony  of  George  the  4th  when 
Prince  of  Wales,  was  reduced  to  beggary  at  last  by 
having  kept  such  good  company ;  so  much  so,  that 
Lord  Anglese^^,  who  had  lived  with  both,  went  to 
our  Prinney  f  and  actually  made  him  give  Lade  ;£'5oo 
a  year  out  of  his  privy  purse.  When  brother  William 
came  to  the  throne,  he  continued  ^^"300  a  year  to  Lade 
out  of  his  privy  purse  ;  but  upon  the  accession  of 
Vic  it  was  supposed  there  would  be  an  end  of  it 
altogether.  As  poor  Lade  was  a  brother  whip  and 
crony  of  Sefton,  I  saw  letters  from  him  imploring 
Sefton's  interest  with  Melbourne  for  a  continuance  of 
a  portion  of  this  pension,  however  small ;  but  Mel- 
bourne in  reply,  however  friendl}^  he  might  be,  could 
hold  out  no  prospect  of  relief  for  him.  Think,  there- 
fore, of  me   being  the  first  to  tell  Sefton  last  night 

*  William  IV.  t  George  IV. 


678  THE   CREEVEY   PAPERS.  [Ch.  XXVII. 

what  Melbourne  told  me  in  the  course  of  the  day. 
The  Queen's  pleasure  had  been  taken  as  to  the  further 
reduction  or  extinction  of  this  charge  upon  the  privy 
purse,  when  she  asked  if  Sir  John  Lade  was  not  above 
80  years  of  age,  and  being  answered  in  the  affirmative, 
she  said  she  would  neither  have  the  pension  enquired 
into  nor  reduced,  but  continued  on  her  own  privy 
purse.  ...  I  wish  that  conceited  puppy  Howick  * 
had  resigned  and  absconded  from  the  Cabinet  when 
he  announced  his  intention  to  Ellice  at  Holkham  to 
do  so.  It  is  quite  clear  that  all  this  mischief  has 
arisen  from  his  obstinacy  and  the  foolish  attempt  of 
his  colleagues  to  satisfy  or  pacify  him ;  and  the  latter 
object  seems  to  have  been  accomplished  at  the  ex- 
pense and  to  the  eternal  disgrace,  I  fear,  of  his 
betters." 

Here  the  letters  suddenly  cease.  These  lines 
must  have  been  among  the  last  from  Mr.  Creevey's 
industrious  pen,  and  lend  a  peculiar  significance  to 
the  enquiry  contained  in  them — "Where  shall  I  go 
next?"  Of  the  manner  of  his  death  or  of  those  who 
tended  him  in  his  last  illness,  nothing  is  known.  He 
died  on  5th  February,  1838,  wanting  but  two  or  three 
weeks  to  complete  his  seventieth  year,  and  was 
buried  in  Greenwich  Hospital. 

*  Afterwards  3rd  Earl  Grey. 


INDEX. 


ThiT figures  in  italics  refer  to  the  notes  only. 


A 


Abbot,  Charles,  Speaker,  4,  29S,  412  ; 
on  Peel's  first  speech,  122  ;  created 
Lord  Colchester,  262 
Abercorn,  Duke  of,  310 
Abercromby,    M.P.    for    Edinburgh, 

36 
Abercromby,  Hon.  James  (created 
Lord  Dunfermline)",  Speaker,  36, 
113,  120,  121,  128,  191.  247,  336, 
379.  462,  490,  618,  651,  673  ;  "fac- 
tious and  violent,"  217  ;  christened 
"  Young  Cole  "  by  Brougham,  o27  ; 
Brougham's  fellow-counsellor,  344  ; 
"my  Scotch  master.  Jemmy,"  601  ; 
appointed  to  the  Alint,  621  ;  Grey 
on,  638  ;  Creevey's  "old  and  tried 
friend,"  654 
Abercromby,  IL^n.  Mrs.  James,  651, 

654,  664 
Abercromby,  Sir  Ralph,  Commander 

of  the  Army  in  EgyjM,  4S 
Aberdeen,  George,  4th  Earl  of,  J7.5 
Abinger,   Lord  (Sir  James  Scarlett), 
Lord  Chief  Baron  of  the  Exchequer, 
12,  344.  398,  457.  490.   568,  640, 
643.  652,  654 
Abisbal,  General  (Spain),  416 
Acheson,   Lord    (afterwards    ICarl   of 

Gosford),  533 
Adair,  Sir  Robert  (the  target  of 
Canning's  satire),  22,  34S,  490, 
496,  553.  654 
Adam,  Rt.  Hon.  \\illiam,  Attorney- 
General  to  the  Prince  of  Wale?  and 
Lord  Chief  Commissioner  to  the 
Scottish  Jury  Court,  39,  107,  213, 
253 


Addington,  Rt.  Hon.  Henry.  See 
Sidmouth,  Viscount 

Adelaide,  Queen,  425,  558,  559,  566, 
604  ;  her  dislike  of  Duchess  of 
Kent,  580  ;  at  Olivia  de  Ros' 
wedding,  605  ;  her  antipathy  to 
the  Whigs,  640  ;  her  fixed  impres- 
sion, 642 

Adkin,  Tom,  99 

Adour,  Congreve  rockets  at  the 
passage  of  the,  1A7 

Age,^  the,  438,  542 

Agricultural  depression,  397,  436, 
489 

Alava,  Representative  of  Spain  at 
Bourbon  Court,  277,  279,  289,  395, 
444,  568,  578,  605,  649 

Albemarle,  Countess  of  {nee  Hun- 
loke),  375 

Albemarle,  George,  3rd  Earl  of,  375 

Albemarle,  William,  4th  Earl  of,  163, 
336,  348,  439.  566,  671  ;  a  saying 
of  William  IV.,  568  ;  the  King  and 
the  Reform  Bill,  5S6  ;  Mrs.  Fitz- 
herbcrt's  letters,  661,  662 

Albuera,  1S5 

Aldborough,  Lady,  281,  661,  673 

Aldborough,  Suffolk,  569 

Aldborough,  Yorkshire,  569 

Alexander,  Master  in  Chancery,  410 

Alexander  I.,  Emperor  of  Russia, 
offers  mediation  between  England 
and  France,  15  ;  his  visit  to  London, 
187,  194;  a  favourite  with  the 
Whigs,  191  ;  Napoleon  on  King 
of  Prussia  and,  196  ;  a  remonstrance, 
346  ;  Lord  Holland's  peace-offering, 
357  ;  the  revolution  in  Spain,  395  ; 
I       Lady  Londonderry's  transfer,  400 

2    Z 


68o 


INDEX. 


"All  the  Talents"  :\Iinistry,  formed 
by  Granville,  40,  42,  75,  81,  84 

Allen,  M.D.,  John,  260,  264,  381, 
497,  498,  664,  671 

Allen,  Lord,  630,  654,  656 

Allies,  in  Paris,  187  ;  in  Belgium, 
218 

Almeida,  88 

Alten,  General  Sir  Charles,  222,  235 

Althorp,  Viscount  (3rd  Earl  of 
Spencer),  "  Clunch,"  157,  264,  389, 
413,  462,  558,  5S8,  591,  597,  602, 
639  ;  candidate  for  Cambridge, 
75-77 ;  his  motion  about  Prince 
of  Wales'  outfit,  216 ;  letter  to 
Creevey,  359  ;  his  first  budget  as 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  560, 
563  ;  Stanley's  obstinacy  about 
Irish  tithes,  594  ;  the  scene  between 
Durham  and  Grey,  607  ;  resigns  on 
Coercion  Bill,  624,  625  ;  remains 
in  office,  626  ;  succeeds  to  I'^arldom, 
637>  638,  663 

Alvanley,  Lord,  401,  471,  509  ; 
challenges  O'Connell,  646 

Amelia,  Princess,  her  illness  and 
death,  98,  135 

America,  war  with,  165,  166-173 ; 
peace,  211,  212 

Amherst,  Lord,  337 

Amiens,  treaty  of,  10 

Andover,  Viscountess  (afterwards 
Lady  Digby),  378,  454 

Andrews,  Miles  Peter,  63 

Anglesey,  Marchioness  of,  523,  530 

Anglesey,  Marquess  of,  504,  523,  530, 
573  ;  recalled  by  Wellington  from 
Lord  Lieutenancy  of  Ireland,  516, 
535-537  ;  his  proclamation  against 
Catholic  meetings,  519;  his  view  of 
Ireland,  524 ;  his  leg's  grave  at 
Vittoria,  531  ;  Lord  Lieutenant  of 
Ireland  again,  607  ;  and  Sir  John 
Lade,  677 

Angouleme,  Duchess  of,  246 

Anmial  Register,  339,  426 

Anson,  George,  416,  556,  596 

Anson,  Hon.  Mrs.  George  {/u'e 
Forester),  556,  596 

Anson,  Lady,  377,  378,  422,  673 ; 
letter  to  Creevey  on  the  battue  at 
Holkham,  394 

Antalda,  Marquis  of,  356 

Antrim,  Countess  of,  18 

Antrim,  Randal,  4th  Earl  of,  18 

Antrim,  Alexander,  5th  Earl  of,  18 

Appleby,  Creevey  INI. P.  for,  298 

Arbuthnot,  463 


Arbuthnot,  Mrs.,  628 

Argyll,  Duke  of,  568,  5S3,  664,  665 

Armstrong,  Colonel,  631,  632 

Arran,  Earl  of,  585 

Arundel,    Earl   of   (afterwards    13  th 

Duke  of  Norfolk),  245 
Ashley,  Lady   Emily  {nee  Cowper), 

540 
Ashton,  Mr.,  171,  172 
Assaye,  battle  of,  495 
Athol,  James,  2nd  Duke  of,  38 
Athol,  John,  3rd  Duke  of,  37 
Athol,  John,  4th  Duke  of,  38,  336, 

499 
Auckland,  William,  ist  Lord,  114 
Auckland,   George,   2nd    Lord,    114, 

120,  344,  437,  456,  623  ;  appointed 

by  Grey  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty, 

618-620  ;    his     hand     forced     by 

Brougham,  625 
Audley,  Lord,  337 
Augusta,  Princess,  604 
Austerlitz,  battle  of,  44,  45,  49 
Austin,  Mr.,  302 
Austria,  213,  218,  482 
Austria,     Prussia,    and    England    v. 

France,  44 


B 


Babbage,  671 

Bacon,  Lady  Charlotte,  402 

Bacourt,  M.  de,  612 

Badajos,  siege  of,  145 

Baden,  Princess  of,  270 

Bagot,  Lord,  337 

Bagot,  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  Charles,  exe- 
cutor of  Queen  Caroline's  will,  367, 
671 

Baillie,  Dr.,  245,  266 

Baird,  Sir  David,  173 

Balfour  of  Balbirnie,  Miss  Katherine 
(Mrs.  Edward  Ellice),  615 

Ballisteros,  General  (Spain),  416 

Bamfyld,  Sir  Charles,  47 

Bank  Note  Bill,  145,  146,  163 

Bank  of  England,  suspension  of  cash 
payments  by,  292 

Bankes,  Mr.,  136,  162,  272,  354,  376, 
498 

Bankhead,  Dr.,  386 

Barham,  Mrs.,  18 

Baring,  Alexander,  353,  397,  432,  586 

Barnard,  Lord,  122 

Barnes,  Editor  of  the  Times,  579,  599 

Barnes,  General  Sir  Edward,  Ad- 
jutant-General, 224,  225,  230,  231, 


INDEX. 


68 1 


238,  277,  279,  2S2,  2S3,  285,  388, 

562 ;  wounded  at  Waterloo,  234, 

235  ;  on  Lord  Hill,  278 
Barras,  6 
Barrington,  Lady  Caroline  {nee  Grey), 

669 
Barry,  Sir  Charles,  664 
Barrymore,  Lord,  78 
Barthelemy,  M.,  the  banker,  7 
Bath,  Marquess  of,  337,  415 
Bathurst,  Countess,  324,  662 
Bathurst,  Earl,  Secretary  of  State  for 

War  and  the  Colonies,    166,  214, 

273>  324,  352.  369.  454,  455,  459 

Bathurst,  Lady  Georgiana,  496 

Bathurst,  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  Charles 
Bragge,  President  of  Board  of  Con- 
trol, and  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy 
of  Lancaster,  114,  166,  352,  354 

Bathurst,  Seymour,  335 

Battue,  an  early  example  of  the  prac- 
tice, 393,  394 

Beauchamp,  Earl  and  Countess,  447 

Beauclerk,  Lord  H.,  190 

Beauclerk,  Mrs.,  182 

Beaufort,  Duchess  of,  324 

Beaufort  Duke  of,  324,  443,  507 

Beauharnais,  Viscount,  6 

Beaumont,  Marquis  of,  345 

Bedford,  Duchess  of,  617,  645 

Bedford,  John,  4lh  Duke  of,  Q71 

Bedford,  Francis,  5th  Duke  of,  451 

Bedford,  John,  6th  Duke  of,  22,  94, 
99.  Ill,  121,  308,  317,  492,  497, 
617,  639;  on  parliamentary  re- 
form, 95 

r>edford,  Francis,  7lh  Duke  of.  Sec 
Tavistock,  Marquis  of 

Bedlam,  421 

Belfast,  Lady,  439 

Belfast,  Lord,  439,  449 

J5elgrave,  Lady  Elizabeth,  390 

P.elgrave,  I^ord,  390 

Belhaven,  Lady,  309 

Bellamy,  Mr.,  392 

Belle w,  Mr.,  521; 

Belli ngham,  Mr.  Perceval's  murderer, 
14.5 

Bennet,  lion.  II.  G.,  157,  160,  305, 
306,  319,  329,  344,  371,  376,  406, 
413;  Creevey  on,  36;  his  letters 
to  Creevey,  185,  187,  191,  194, 
211,  213,  215,  240,  256,  264,  294; 
his  wife's  veto,  210;  "this  is  scanda- 
lous," 342 

Bennet,  Hon.  Mrs,  11.  G.  {luc  Rus- 
sell), 210,  290 

Bentham,  393 


Bentinck,  Lord  George,  442 
Benvenuto  Cellini,  Roscoe's  Life  of, 

505 

Berenger  de,  20o 

Beresford,  General,  at  Albuera,  185 

Bere.'iford,  Lord,  468 

Beresford,  Rt.  Hon.  John,  Chairman 
of  the  Revenue  Board  of  Ireland,  42 

Bergami,  Bartolommeo,  Queen  Caro- 
line's courier,  301,  312",  322,  324, 
331,  335, .366,  415 

Bergami,  Victorine,  366 

Berkeley,?Admiral  Sir  Maurice  Frede- 
rick (afterwards  Lord  Fitzhardinge), 
147,  527,  530 

Berkeley,  Captain,  423 

Berkeley,  Hon.  — ,  247 

Berkeley,  Lady,  49 

Berkeley,  Lady  Charlotte  {nee  Gor- 
don-Lennox), 527 

Berkeley,  Thomas,  6th  Earl  of,  67 

l^erri,  Due  de,  223,  225 

Berri,  Duchesse  de,  594 

Berry,  Miss,  597 

Berthier,  Cieneral,  5,  225 

Bertrand,  M.,  368 

Bessborough,  Frederick,  3rd  Earl  of, 
62,  254,  452,  513 

Bessborough,  John,  4th  Earl  of.  See 
Duncannon,  Lord 

Bessborough,  John,  5tli  Earl  of,  610 

Bessborough,  Lady,  62 

Bessborough  Estates,  Ireland,  ^13 

Ikttesworth,  R.N.,  Captain,  615 

Bexley,  Lord.     See  Vansittart,  N, 

Bickersteth,  645^ 

Bingham,  General,  601 

Binning,  Lord,  206 

Birch,  ^Ir.,  555 

Black,  Sergeant,  452 

Blackburne,  John,  M.P.  for  Lan- 
cashire, 430 

Blackwood,  Mrs,  {nk  Sheridan), 
afterwards  Lady  Dufferin,  lastly 
Countess  of  Giftbrd,  39 

Blake,  Mr.,  511 

Bland,  Thomas,  668 

Blaquicre,  AL,  403 

Blessington,  Lady,  428,  630 

Blessington,  Lord,  630 

Blomfield,  C.  |.,  Bisliop  of  London, 

Bloomiield,  Lieut. -General  Sir  Ben- 
jamin (afterwards  Lord),  George 
IV.'s  Private  Secretary,  etc.,  66,  68, 
73,  150,  368,  B73,  400  ;  British  Min- 
ister at  Stockholm,  385;  "ruined 
from  that  moment,"  447 


682 


INDEX. 


Bloomfield,  son  of  above,  400 

Blount,  Stephenson,  671 

Blucher,  his  likeness  to  Lord  Grey, 
196  ;  Wellington  and,  228  ;  his  re- 
ported defeat  by  Napoleon,  231  ;  at 
Ligny,  236  ;  at  Laon,  280 

Bolton,  Judge,  387 

Borghese,  Pauline,  Princess,  368,  4S0 

Borgo,  Pozzo  di,  649 

Boston,  Lord,  439 

Bould,  Miss,  389 

Boulton,  Mr.,  172 

Bourmont,  General,  deserts  to  Blucher 
at  Waterloo,  544,  594 

Bourrienne,  M.,  Life  of  Napoleon,  544, 

545.  549 

Bouverie,  Mrs.,  13,  82 

Bowes-Daly,  128 

Boyce,  a  Protestant  squire  of  Wex- 
ford, 525 

Boyd,  Benfield  and  Co.,  35,  37 

Boyle,  Lady  Augusta  (afterwards 
FitzClarence),  642 

Bradshaw,  Mr.,  in 

Brand,  Tom  (22nd  Lord  Dacre),  653 

Brandling,  M.P.  for  Newcastle-on- 
Tyne,  23 

Brandling,  Charles,  loS 

Brandling,  Miss  Fanny,  552,  620,  627 

Brandling,  Ralph,  109 

Brandling,  William,  620 

Brandon,  Lady,  502 

Brandon,  Rev.  Wm,  Crosbie,  D.D., 
Lord,  502 

Brass  Founders'  Procession,  334 

Braybrooke,  Lord,  622 

Briggs,  Captain,  312 

Brighton,  past  and  present,  Creevey 
on,  667 

Brogden,  Mr.,  22,  352 

Brooke,  Sir  Charles,  279 

Brougham,  Henry,  128,  159,  308,  324, 
331.  335>  344,  347,  35^,  352,  376- 
378,  398,  400,  402-404,  414,  418, 
421,  437,  441,  445,  455,  461,  462, 
465.  494,  497,  501,  537.  53^,  55i, 
560,  564,  597,  603,  609,  620,  624, 
637  ;  his  review  of  Lauderdale's 
book  in  Edinburgh  Review,  30 ; 
Grey  on,  108,  482,  526;  M.P.  for 
'Camelford,  153;  candidate  for 
Liverpool,  156,  171,  173  ;  Creevey's 
•distrust  of,  168-171,  365,  431,  471, 
472,  478,  479,  491  ;  his  "volley  of 
declamation,"  172;  the  weapon 
ready,  175  ;  and  Queen  Caroline, 
177,  199,  204,  295,  296,  301-303, 
316-319,  326,  329,  338,  341,  344, 


353,  355,  360,  365,  48S;  letter 
from  Lady  C.  Lindsay,  183 ;  on 
Newcastle-on-Tyne,  186 ;  his  article 
on  Norway  in  Ji.ilinbwgh  Reviezv, 
186  ;  his  profound  resources,  197  ; 
blames  Whitbread,  204  ;  speech  on 
Treaty  of  Paris,  249,  250;  "has 
done  everything  with  no  help," 
257 ;  on  Tierney,  264 ;  Duke  of 
Kent  and  Madame  St.  Laurent,  270  ; 
"quite  silent,"  272  ;  his  prophecy 
about  Creevey's  Thetford  seat,  274  ; 
feels  the  loss  of  Romilly,  293  ;  Fox's 
proposed  epitaph,  299  ;  his  offer  to 
Lord  Liverpool  on  Queen's  behalf, 
301-303  ;  his  speeches  on  the  Pains 
and  Penalties  Bill,  310,  321,  322  ; 
Lady  Charlotte  Greville  and,  314, 
323;  the  "Coles,"  827 ;  on  Oldi 
and  Mariette  as  witnesses,  328 ; 
and  the  Duke  of  Roxburgh,  345  ; 
his  depression,  357  ;  his  plans  to 
rouse  the  North  for  the  Queen, 
360 ;  the  Queen's  illness,  death, 
and  funeral,  362,  363,  367;  "he 
absolutely  hated  her,"  366  ;  Napo- 
leon's appeal,  368  ;  Lauderdale  on, 
370,  496  ;  speech  for  reduction  of 
taxation,  375  ;  Lady  Holland  and, 
379 ;  his  bid  for  Westmorland 
farms,  393  ;  and  Canning,  406,  408, 
410,  463,  467  ;  Lady  Jersey  and, 
413,  415,  475,  565;  Creevey's 
Reform  pamphlet,  435 ;  Dandy 
Raikes'  quarrel  with,  448,  449, 451  ; 
his  "perfidy"  to  Lambton,  468; 
declines  post  of  Chief  Baron  of  the 
Exchequer,  471  ;  "  another  instance 
of  his  hypocrisy,"  472  ;  denounced 
by  "the  Malignants,"  478,  491; 
Lambton's  peerage,  484;  "acting 
without  the  slightest  tincture  of 
interest,"  487;  "the  Arch-fiend," 
479 ;  Grey  and  Cleveland,  491, 
492  ;  Burdett  on,  495  ;  his  Cabinet 
dinner,  496  ;  candidate  for  West- 
morland, 507  ;  his  literary  schemes, 
548,  549  ;  on  Napoleon,  549  ;  Lord 
Chancellor,  556;  "  Vaux  et  proe- 
terea  nihil,"  558;  and  Sefton,  the 
Times'  attacks  on  Grey,  561,  562  ; 
Eldon  and,  566;  "an  intriguing, 
perfidious  rogue,"  569 ;  on  the 
batch  of  new  peers,  572 ;  Lady 
Grey  on,  573;  "Old  Wicked- 
shifts,"  578,  616,  617;  and  the 
Reform  Bill,  579,  589,  634 ;  and 
the    Duchess    of    Kent's    absence 


INDEX. 


68- 


from  William  IV. 's  Coronation, 
579) 580  ;  his  demand  for  new  peers, 
583,  587  ;  William  IV.  and,  588, 
602,  639,  640  ;  Gascoigne's  motion 
to  reduce  Ordnance  Vote,  607  ; 
"  Beelzebub,"  614,  634  ;  and  Mrs. 
Petre,  618  ;  indignant  with  Grey, 
619  ;  Roscoe,  622  ;  forces  Auck- 
land's hand,  625  ;  "  drove  Grey 
from  office,"  627  ;  his  defence,  629, 
630,  636 ;  attacks  Durham  in 
Edinburgh  RevircU,  631;  "letters 
of  a  perfect  Bedlamite,"  640,  642  ; 
his  "insincere  jaw,"  647;  some 
correspondence  of  George  III.,  660  ; 
his  spiteful  motives,  671  ;  his  letters 
to  Creevey,  119,  134, 144,  145,  154, 
155.  174.  17S-183,  186,  192,  194, 
195,  201,  202,  204,  206,  211,  243, 
245,  247,  252,  258,  261,  294,  297, 
319.  358,  361,  366,  3S6,  3S7,  408, 
456,  488,  548,  550,  577 

Brougham,  Lady  (Mrs.  Spalding, 
wt'^  Eden),  352,  413,  414,  431,  449, 
462 

Brougham,  James,  571,  613 

Brougham,  William,  562 

Brown,  Mrs.  (Lord  Thurlow's 
daughter),  60 

Brozam,  Count,  A.D.C.  to  the  Czar, 
281 

Bruce,  Lavalette,  406,  416 

Brudenel,  Lord,  417 

Brunswick,  Duke  of,  183,  184;  killed 
at  Quatre  Bras,  230 

Brussels,  before  Waterloo,  218,  219; 
Creevey  at,  205-273,  292-295 

Buckingham,  George,  1st  Marquess 
of,  27 

Buckingham  Palace,  493,  649 

Buckingham,  Richard,  2nd  Marquess 
of  (afterwards  1st  Duke  of),  211;, 
563  ;  "  is  trying  hard  for  ofllce," 
217  ;  duel  with  Sir  Thomas  Hardy, 
256 ;  the  Queen's  trial,  316 ;  his 
letter  to  Canning,  411 

Buckinghamshire,  Karl  of,  159 

Buggin,  Lady  Cecilia,  Duchess  of 
Inverness,  572,  585,  600,  671 

Buggin,  Sir  George,  oSa 

Bulow,  Ilerr,  604 

Bulteel,  Lady  Elizabeth,  575,  648 

Bulteel,  Mr.,  575,  585 

Buonaparte,  Napoleon.    ^SVf  Napoleon 

Burdett,  Sir  Francis,  60,  97,  249,  414, 
416,  540,  541  ;  7'.  agriculturists, 
194  ;  on  Roman  Catholic  question, 
100,    409  ;    Creevey   on,    107  ;   on   [ 


Reform,  128;  imprisoned  in  Tower, 
^3^5  1335  ^nJ  Brougham,  202, 
203,  249,  495  ;  refuses  peerage, 
663  ;  his  letters  to  Creevey,  3,  132 

Burford,  Earl  of  (afterwards  9th  Duke 
of  St.  Albans),  415 

Burgess,  Whitbread's  solicitor,  241 

Burgh,  Sir  Ulysses  de,  281 

Burghersh,  Lady,  197 

Burgos,  siege  of,  173 

Burgoyne,  120 

Burke,  lidmund,  108,  162 

Burn,  Mr.,  521 

Burrell,  Walter,  I\I.P.  for  Sussex,  376 

Burton,  A.D.C.  and  Secretary  to 
Lord  Anglesey,  530 

Bury,  Lady  Charlotte,  Memoirs  and 
Correspo7idencc  of  Queen  Carolim, 

675 

Bury,  Lord,  417 

Bushe,  Chief  Justice,  517,  525,  530 

Bute,  John,  ist  Marquess  of,  228 

Butler,  Lady  Eleanor,  527 

Butler,  Lady  Mary,  107 

Byng,  G.  ("Poodle"),  128,  204,438, 
572,  621,  632,  656,  672,  675 

Byng,  Hon.  Mrs.,  656 

Byron,  Lord,  Hours  of  Idleness,  75  ; 
Lady  C.  Lamb's  Glenarvon  and 
Vivian,  255  ;  at  Geneva,  259  ;  on 
Dr.  John  Allen,  2Q0 ;  a  rejected 
poem,  294 


Cabarrus,  Madame  (previously  Com- 

tesse   de    Fontenay,  then  Madame 

de     Tallien,     lastly     Princess     de 

Chimay),  6,  7 
Caithness,  Lord,  257 
Calcraft,    John,    46,    113,    12S,    333, 

358,  448,  456,  502,  555 
Callander,  Caroline  Henrietta  (Mrs. 

T.  Sheridan),  39 
Calthorpe,  Lord,  336 
Cambray,     taken     by     storm,    239 ; 

Creevey  at,  275 
Camelford,  Lord,  60 
Cameron,  James,  529 
Campbell,  Lady  Charlotte,  177,  199, 

630 
Campbell,     Lady     Mary,     Baroness 

Stratheden,  654 
Campbell,      Lord     Chancellor,     on 

Twiss,  'iioi 
Campbell,  Sir  Colin,  417,  495 
Campbell,      Sir     John      (afterwards 

Baron),  Go-i 


684 


INDEX. 


Canada  Bill,  676 

Canning,  Colonel,  Wellington's 
A.D.C,  killed  at  Waterloo,  230 

Canning,  G*orge,  262,  342,  3S8,  395, 
401,  403,  427,  432,  543  ;  and  Ad- 
dington,  8  ;  Creevey  on,  9 ;  on 
Fox  and  Pitt,  20 ;  satirises  Adair, 
22 ;  illness  of  George  III.,  27 ; 
Foreign  Secretary,  93,  391,  394 ; 
quarrel  and  duel  with  Castlereagh, 
93,  96-98,  106,  108,  639  ;  Whit- 
bread  on,  99,  109';  Grey  on,  108, 
159,  460,  482  ;  on  Coke,  108  ; 
Brandling  all  for,  ibid.  ;  his  rhe- 
torical flourishes,  123  ;  the  Wal- 
cheren  Expedition,  124;  "every 
Frenchman  that  falls,"  etc.,  134 ; 
disbands  his  troop,  151  ;  and 
Wellesley,  154,  157,  161-163  ;  the 
Liverpool  seat,  155,  156,  169,  171- 
173  ;    and    Brougham,    156,    178, 

206,  209,  253,  406-408,  410,  463, 
467,  471  ;  the  Roman  Catholic 
question,  158,  445,  450;  Sheridan 
on,  164;  "on  the  skirts  of  the 
party,"  175 ;  Ambassador  to  Lisbon, 

207,  287,  377  ;  Peel's  election  for 
Oxford,  263  ;  Governor-General  of 
India,  385-387,  411,  412;  called 
"Merryman"  by  Brougham,  392, 
393  ;  "  has  his  hands  full,"  397  ; 
and  George  IV.,  401,  452,  453  ;  his 
irritability,  405  ;  and  Lord  Ken- 
sington's son,  415  ;  Cobbett's  Z?7^ 
of,  436  ;  and  Hobhouse,  441  ;  his 
and  Huskisson's  Corn  Bill,  442, 
443,  464  ;  his  illness,  448  ;  Premier, 
forming  his  Cabinet,  453-459,  467, 
487,  488  ;  the  Penryn  case,  461  ; 
and  Wellington,  463,  466,  477 ; 
death  and  funeral,  467,  468  ;  monu- 
ment, 475 

Canning,  Miss,  390 

Cantillon,    attempts    to    assassinate 

Wellington,  273 
Caparo,  Duke  of,  356 
Carlisle,  Countess  of,  1S4- 
Carlisle,  6th  Earl  of,  27,  78,  121,  465, 

648 
Carlisle,  7th  Earl  of,  565,  61S,  620, 

649 
Carnac,  Mr.,  670 
Camac,  Mrs.,  422 
Carnarvon,  Lord,  308,  318,  324,  34S, 

381,  421 
Caroline,    Queen,   in   the   House  of 

Commons,    123;    the   Commission 

on,  1 76-1 8 1  ;  and  Brougham,  177, 


199,  204,  295,  296,  301-303,  316- 
319,  326,  329,  338,  341,  344,  353, 
355.  360,  365,  488  ;  at  Vauxhall, 
182,  184  ;  the  drawing-room,  187  ; 
and  Grey,  193  ;  at  the  Opera,  195, 
196;  "carries  everything  before 
her,"  196  ;  declines  increased 
allowance  voted  by  Parliament, 
199,  204  ;  the  thanksgiving  at  St. 
Paul's,  202  ;  a  divorce  impossible, 
209  ;  her  intended  return  to  Ken- 
sington Palace,  212,  253  ;  is  offered 
;^5o,ooo  to  renounce  title  and 
live  abroad,  295,  301,  302  ;  her 
trial,  295,  303-342,  348  ;  popular 
sympathy,  298,  299  ;  her  Solicitor- 
General,  Denman,  q.v.  ;  her  name 
excluded  from  the  Liturgy,  303, 
304,  306,  351,  352,  354  _;  Grey^s 
and  Lambton's  interview  with,  349  ; 
Brougham  testifies  to  his  belief  in 
her  innocence,  353,  355  ;  proposed 
subscription  for,  357  ;  buys  Cam- 
bridge House,  ibid.  ;  excluded  from 
the  Coronation,  358,  360  ;  proposed 
visit  to  the  North,  361,  362  ;  her 
death  and  funeral,  363-368  ;  Lord 
Bath  on,  415 

Carrington,  Lord,  99,  iii,  214 

Cartwright,  General,  150 

Cartwright,  John,  the  "  Father  of 
Reform,"  202 

Casimir,  M.,  568 

Castlereagh,  Viscountess,  385' 

Castlereagh,  Viscount,  loses  Co.  Down 
on  seeking  re-election  as  Pitt's  War 
Minister,  43,  63  ;  quarrel  and  duel 
with  Canning,  93,  96-98,  106,  108, 
639  ;  Grey  on,  107  ;  his  claims  on 
the  Plouse  of  Commons,  122  ;  the 
Walcheren  Expedition,  123,  124  ; 
ministerial  changes,  157,  165  ; 
Foreign  Secretary,  175  ;  "he  can- 
not but  be  in  a  scrape,"  185  ;  Ward 
on,  189  ;  increase  of  Princess  of 
Wales'  allowance,  198,  200,  201  ; 
red  hot  on  war  with  France,  214; 
Brougham's  speech  on  Treaty  of 
Paris,  250  ;  "  appealing  to  pos- 
terity," 262  ;  his  supposed  influence 
over  Prince  Leopold,  266  ;  Lady 
Holland  on,  266  ;  Creevey  on, 
287,  352  ;  the  King's  message 
about  the  Queen,  303  ;  "  smiling 
as  usual,"  306  ;  roughly  handled  at 
Covent  Garden,  338  ;  a  scene  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  342  ; 
Tierney      and      Napoleon,     346  ; 


INDEX. 


685 


Dublin's  applause,  372  ;  replies  to 
Brougham's  motion  for  reduction 
of  taxation,  375,  376 ;  his  suicide, 
380,  382-389  ;  his  successor 
Canning,  391,  405,  461  ;  his  key- 
note non-intervention,  394,  395 

Cathcart,  Lord,  86,  281,  282 

Catholic  Association,  the,  535,  537 

Caton,  Mr.,  of  Philadelphia,  591 

Caton,  Captain  of  an  Indiaman, 
279 

Caton,  Miss,  276,  279,  590 

Caulincourt,  M.,  190 

Cavendish,  Charles  (Baron  Chesham), 
207 

Cavendish,  Lord  George,  100,  III, 
122,  265,  376,  430  ;  nominal 
leader  of  the  Whigs,  1 12,  247,  257  ; 
Bennet  on,  257 

Cavendish,  William,  126 

Caxton,  549 

Cazes,  M.  de  (Decazes),  272,  346 

Cellini,  Benvenuto,  505 

Chalmers,  Dr.,  Professor  of  Moral 
Philosophy  in  St.  Andrews,  after- 
wards of  Theology  in  Edinburgh, 
426 

Chaloner,  376 

Chalons,  422 

Chantrey,  664 

Charlemont,  Lady,  147,  666 

Charlemont,  Lord,  147,  148,  150 

Charleroi,  capture  of,  223,  229 

Charles  X.,  595,  657 

Charleville,  Lord,  654 

Charlotte  of  Wales,  Princess,  the 
Prince  Regent's  treatment  of,  176, 
178-180,  182  ;  Brougham's  advice 
to,  198 ;  her  illness,  184,  207  ; 
marriage,  258,  259  ;  death,  266, 
268,  667 

Charlotte,  Queen,  1S4,  194,  197, 
281,  284 

Chateaubriand,  214 

Chatham,  Earl  of,  85,  660 ;  the 
Walcheren  Expedition,  95-97,  107, 
129-131,  133 

Chesham,  Charles,  Lord,  207 

Chesterfield,  Countess  of  (Hon. 
Anne  Forester),  556 

Chesterfield,  Earl  of,  541,  556 

Chichester,  Earl  of,  113 

Chifnay,  Mr.,  552 

Chimay,  Prince  de,  7 

Cholmondeley,  Lady  Charlotte  (after- 
wards Seymour),  266 

Cholmondeley,  Marchioness  of,  196 

Cholmondeley,  Marquess  of,  320 


Church  of  England,  Hume's  attack 
on,  40S 

Churchill,  Lady,  5S5 

Churchill,  Lord,  509 

Cintra  Convention,  89,  93 

Civil  List  Bill,  1831..560 

Civil  Offices  Pensions  Act,  1817 
376 

Clanricarde,  ist  Marquess  of,  530 

Clanwilliam,  Earl  of,  402 

Clare  Election,  535 

Clare,  Lady,  47,  49 

Clare,  Lord,  371,  389,  406,  540 

Clarendon,  Earl  of.  Queen  Caroline's 
executor,  367 

Clarke,  Mr.,  112 

Clarke,  Mrs.  Mary  Anne,  and  the 
Duke  of  York,  97,  112,  113,  115, 
I93^3IO,  344,  620 

Clavering,  General,  61 

Cleveland,  Duchess  of,  Lady  Darling- 
ton (Mrs.  Russell  alias  Funnereau), 
184,  428,  431,  451,  473,  474,  507, 
55O)  585  ;  and  Mrs,  Taylor,  432  ; 
Creevey  on,  434 

Cleveland,  ist  Duke  of,  3rd  Lord 
Darlington,  "  Niffy-Naffy,"  MS, 
308,  451,  455,  472,  473,  491,  492, 
549-551.  572,  5^5;  his  marriage, 
184,  428  ;  five  seats  to  dispose  of, 
432  ;  raves  about  Canning,  458  ; 
Grey  and,  464  ;  his  Winchelsea 
seat,  507  ;  Wellington  and,  495 

Cleveland,  Lord  William  Powlett, 
3rd  Duke  of,  472-474,  543 

Clifden,  2nd  Viscount,  o5d 

Clifden,  3rd  Viscount,  5ad 

Clifford,  Charlotte,  13aroness  (after- 
wards Duchess  of  Devonshire),  264 

Clifford,  Lieutenant  (Lord?),  264 

Clifford,  Lord  de,  308,  336 

Clifton,  Lord,  184 

Clincial  thermometer,  Dr.  Currie's,  3 

Clinton,  Lord,  355 

Cloncurry,  Lord,  536 

Clowes,  Mrs.,  60 

Cobbett,  William,  89,  594  ;  im- 
prisoned for  libel,  133  ;  his  letter 
to  Creevey,  134  ;  "a  foul-mouthed 
malignant  dog,"  334  ;  on  agri- 
cultural depression,  397  ;  Life  of 
Camting,  436  ;  his  "  blackguard 
language,  593  ;  and  Lord  Radnor, 
620 

Cobbett's  Weekly  Political  Register, 
89,  132,  133 

Cochrane,  Admiral  Lord  (afterwards 
lOlh    Karl   of    Dundonald),     128  ; 


686 


INDEX. 


tried  for  Stock  Exchange  conspiracy, 

202,  203 
Codrington,  Admiral,  573 
Coercion  Bill,  624,  627,  630,  636 
Coke,  Miss,  378 

Coke,  Sir  Edward,  Chief  Justice,  453 
Coke,  Thomas,  of  Holkham  (created 

Earl  of  Eeicester),  122,  297,  418, 

618,     636 ;      Canning's     "  landed 

grandee,"   108  ;    marries   Lady  A. 

Keppel,  378  ;  furious  about   Lady 

]\Iary     Keppel's     marriage,     439 ; 

"  our    worthy    King   Tom,"  453  ; 

created   Earl,    637  ;   Creevey    on, 

673  ;  on  Lady  Holland,  675 
Coke,  Thomas  William,  2nd  Earl  of 

Leicester,  378,  418,  674 
Colborne,  Sir  John  (afterwards  Lord 

Seaton),       Governor-General       of 

Canada,  676 
Colchester,  riot  at  Queen's  funeral  at, 

374 

Colchester,  Lord.  See  Abbot,  Charles 

Cole,  Hon.  Sir  Lowry,  commanded 
4th  Division  in  Peninsular  War, 
277,  283,  351  ;  Governor  of 
INIauritius,  354 

Cole,  Lady  Eranccs  {n/e  Malmes- 
bury),  277-279 

Collier,  Lady,  254 

<-'ollingwood,  Lord,  Mimoirs,  503 

Colvill,  General,  239 

Commission  on,  Royal  Navy,  33  ; 
Public  Expenditure,  136  ;  Queen 
Caroline,  176,  177,  181;  Flogging, 
652 

Conde,  Prince  de,  225 

Congleton,  I>ord,  31,  164 

Congreve,  Sir  William,  inventor  of 
rockets,  147,  150 

Conroy,  Mr.,  674 

Consort,  Prince,  394 

Conway,  Field  Marshal,  355 

Conyngham,  Lady  Elizabeth  (Mar- 
chioness of  Huntley),  333,  415,  438 

Conyngham,  Lady  Elizabeth  Denison, 
1st  Marchioness  of,  229,  333,  499  ; 
George  IV. 's  relations  with,   362, 

372,  373.  385.  387.  400,  4i9>  43i» 
446,  447,  450,  462,  490;  her 
portrait  by  Lawrence,  358  ;  her 
friend  Lady  Glengall,  371  ;  "shows 
but  little  in  public"  at  Dublin, 
372,  373  :  her  opposition  Ball  at 
the  Opera  House,  380 ;  Duke  of 
Sussex  and  his  sisters,  390 ;  at 
Ascot,  419;  "a  blow-up  between 
Prinney  and,"   431  ;    "  she   hates 


Kingy,"   438  ;   her  paramount  in- 
fluence at  Court,  445 
Conyngham,    Lord,    320,  371,   401, 

402,  445,  621,  668 
Conyngham,   Lord   Albert  Denison, 

400 
Cook,   Captain,   killed  at  Trafalgar, 

69 
Cooke,  "  Kangaroo,"  451 
Copenhagen  Expedition,  85,  86 
Copley,     Maria     (afterwards      Lady 

Howick   and   Countess   of  Grey), 

373.    390,     637  ;    her    letters    to 

Creevey,  401,  406 
Copley,  Sir   John    (afterwards  Lord 

Lyndhurst),  455,  456 
Copley,  .Sir  Joseph,  648 
Cork,  Edmund,  7th  Earl  of,  56 
Cork,  Lady,  56 

Corn  Laws,  436,  442,  443,  500,  508. 
Cornwall,  Mr.,  474 
Cornwallis,  Marchioness,  16SI 
Corry,  James,  511,  519,  523,  530 
Cotton,  Sir  Charles,  89 
Courier,  179 
Courtenay,  Mr.,  1S4 
Courvoisier.  valet,  murders  his  master. 

Lord  William  Russell,  451,  671 
Coutts,  Mr.,  209,  345,  350 
Coutts,  i\Irs.  (afterwards  Duchess  of 

St.  Albans),  462,  559 
Covent  Garden  theatre,  97 
Coventry,  George  William,  8th  Earl 

of,  56,  610 
Coventry,  Lady  Mary  Augusta  (after- 
wards Holland),  610 
Cowley,  Lady  (Olivia  de  Ros),  546, 

579,  605,  662 
Cowley,  Lord  (Sir  Henry  Wellesley), 

218,  605,  662 
Cowper,    Lady   (afterwards    Palmer- 

ston),  255,  259,  471,  509,  568,  583,. 

610,  649,  667 
Cowper,    Lady    Emily   (Countess   of 

Shaftesbury),  540 
Cowper,  Lord,  82,  259,  313,  317,  318, 

336,  348,  351.  381,  421.  430.  471. 

509,  568,  572,  583 
Cox  and  Greenwood,  584 
Cradock,  Colonel,  281,  438,  648 
Crampton,     Surgeon  -  General,     5^^»- 

523 
Craufurd,  Madame,  630 
Craven,  Countess  of,  652 
Craven,  Earl  of,  247,  554 
Craven,    Hon.    Berkeley,    296,    ^2'^r 

355,  356,  481 
Craven,  Hon.  Keppel,  309,  311,  356 


INDEX. 


6^7 


Craven,  Hon.  Maria.  See  Sefton, 
Lady 

Craven,  Lady  Louisa  (afterwards 
Johnstone,  then  Oswald),  653 

(Jraven,  Mrs.,  662 

Creevey,  Miss,  485,  652 

Creevey,  Mrs.  (formerly  Mrs.  Ord), 
12,  18,  22,  108,  120,  148-150  ;  at 
Erighton,  47-50 ;  and  Sheridan, 
52  ;  Lord  Thurlow,  60  ;  at  Brussels, 
205-272  ;  her  death,  275,  295 ; 
letters — from  Earl  Grey,  i  ;  from 
Sheridan,  39  ;  to  Creevey,  65-73, 
80 ;  from  Mrs.  Fitzherbert,  69  ;  to 
Miss  Ord,   82,  84  ;  from  Creevey, 

,'  121-132,  136-143.  I45»  I56-I73> 
195  ;  from  Lady  Holland,  151,  184, 
189,  205,  246,  254,  265 

Crewe,  Lord,  37S 

Crockford's,  493 

Croker,  J.  W.,  on  Brougham,  365; 
his  dispute  with  Hume,  377  ;  his 
article  in  Quartc7-Iy  Revieiv  on 
O'Meara's  A  Voieejrom  St.  Helena, 
407  ;  •'  the  three  C's,"  436  ;  his 
account  of  Liverpool's  illness,  447  ; 
a  P.C.,  502  ;  a  slender  chance  of 
being  M.P.  again,  563 

Croker  Papers,  31,  365,  373,  553 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  513 

Cross,  Mr.,  K.C.,  467 

Cumberland,  Duchess  of  (Princess 
Frederica  of  Mecklenberg-Strelitz, 
widow,  firstly,  of  Prince  Frederick 
of  Prussia,  and  secondl)%  of  Prince 
Frederick  William  of  Salmo-Braun- 
fels),  205 

Cumberland,  Duke  of,  146,  14S-150, 
205,  276,  298,  339,  53S,  539,  552, 
587,  664 

Cumberland  Hussars,  at  Waterloo, 
148,  232,  234 

Curran,  J-  P.,  Irish  Master  of  the 
Rolls,  61,  107 

Currency  question,  the,  436,  439 

Currie,  Dr.  J.,  of  Liverpool,  his  clini- 
cal thermometer,  2  ;  his  letters  to 
Creevey,  2,  12,  30;  from  Creevey, 
4,  9,  11-16,  19,  24,  27,  33,  78,  80 

Culhbert,  Lady  Fanny,  402 


D 


Dacre,  Thomas,  20th  Lord,  337,  437, 

565,  620 
Dacre,  Thomas,  22nd  Lord,  653 
Daly,  Mr.,  128 


Darner,  Mrs.  (wt'^  Conway),  355,  356, 
661 

Danglas,  Boissy,  7 

Danton,  7 

D'Aremberg,  Due,  225 

D'Aremberg,  Prince,  509 

D'Arenberg,  Prince,  413 

Darlington,  Lady.  See  Cleveland, 
Duchess  of 

Darlington,  Lord.  See  Cleveland, 
Duke  of 

Darnley,  Lord,  283,  329,  421 

Dartmouth,  Earl  of,  337 

Davenport,  M.P.  for  Cheshire,  376 

Davie,  Sir  John,  8th  baronet  of 
Creedy,  Devon,  407 

Dawson,  Mr.,  509 

Dawson-Damer,  Mrs.,  662 

Dawson-Damer,  Rt.  Hon.  C,  646, 
662 

Day,  Mr.,  66,  68 

Decazes,  M.,  272,  345 

Delaney,  General,  34,  247 

Delawarr,  Lord,  337 

Denison  of  Denbies,  William  Joseph, 
366,  385.  447.  449,  451.  462,  490 

Denman,  Lord  Chief  Justice,  297, 
550,  659,  673  ;  Queen's  Solicitor- 
General  in  her  trial,  303,  304,  30S, 
310,  311,  317,  326,  328,  331, 
333-335.  341.  365 ;  his  reception 
by  the  populace,  360 ;  present  at 
the  Queen's  death,  363 

Denmark,  Princess  of,  272 

Dent,  "Dog,"  400 

Derby,  James  Stanley,  4th  Earl  of, 
38 

Derby,  Edward,  12th  Earl  of,  27, 
29,  100,  112,  114,  120,  128,  130, 
260,  305,  308,  318,  326,  326,  331, 
379.  399.  418,  425,  436.  545  J  letter 
to  Creevey,  382  ;  the  railway 
movement,  429  ;  and  William  IV., 
56S 

Derby,  Edward  Smith,  13th  Earl  of, 
171-173,  418,430 

Derby,  Edward,  14th  Earl  of,  382, 
418,  470,  545,  568,  611,  624,  626, 
^37.  639,  641,  651  ;  Secretary  for 
Ireland,  561,  607  ;  and  Durham, 
606;  M.P.  for  Cheshire,  597; 
resigns,  615,  61S  ;  split  between 
Russell  and,  615,  616 

Derby,  Eliza  Farren,  Countess  of 
(wife  of  I2th  Earl),  112,  305,  318, 
326,  329,  331,  399,  413,  417,  425 

Derby,  Countess  of  (wife  of  I3tli 
Earl),  171-173 


688 


INDEX. 


d'Erlon,  Marshal,  at  Waterloo,  238, 
242 

Devereux,  Mr.,  521 

Devonshire,  Charlotte,  Baroness  Clif- 
ford, Duchess  of  (wife  of  4th  Duke), 
184 

Devonshire,  Lady  Georgiana  Spencer, 
Duchess  of  (ist  wife  of  5th  Duke), 

Devonshire,  Lady  Elizabeth  Foster, 
Duchess  of  (2nd  wife  of  5th  Duke), 
84,254 

Devonshire,  William,  4th  Duke  of, 
184 

Devonshire,  William,  5th  Duke  of, 
31,  84,  120,  182,  184 

Devonshire,  William  Spencer,  6th 
Duke  of,  184,  257,  583,  645,  652  ; 
declares  for  Reform,  348  ;  proposed 
subscription  for  Queen  Caroline, 
354  ;  protest  against  Creevey's  ex- 
clusion from  office,  457  ;  his  coach 
at  Doncaster  races,  471) 

Digby,  Admiral  Sir  Henry,  378,  453 

Digby,  Aurora  (Lady  EUenborough), 
422 

Digby,  Lady  (Viscountess  Andover), 
378,  454 

Dillon,  Lord,  597 

Dillon,  Miss,  190 

Dimont,  Queen  Caroline's  femme  de 
chambre,  314,  315,  335 

Dino,  Madame  de,  559,  578,  583, 
591.  595.  604,  611-613,  621,  644 

Dinorben,  Lady,  80 

Dinorben,  Lord,  SO,  412 

Dogherty,  Irish  Solicitor-General, 
530 

Donne,  W,  Bodham,  editor  of  Cor- 
respondence  of  George  III.  with 
Lord  North,  660 

Donoughmore,  1st  Earl  of,  48,  138, 
317.  326,  328,  519,  531  ;  his  recol- 
lections of  Ireland,  520-522 

Dorchester,  Lord,  63 

d'Orleans,  Due,  244,  595,  611,  612 

Dorneburg,  General,  Commander  of 
Mons  garrison,  221,  222 

D'Orsay,  Count,  596,  630 

Dorset,  Duchess  of,  67 

d'Otranto,  Joseph  Fouche,  Due,  7, 
214 

Douglas-Hamilton,  Lady  Charlotte 
(Duchess  of  Somerset),  406 

Douro,  Lord,  551 

Douro,  Wellington's  passage  of  the, 
101-105,  109 

Dover,  Lord,  599 


Downshire,  Marchioness  of,  49,  62, 

65,  66,  68,  73,  147 
Downshire,  Marquess  of,  128,  421 
Downton    borough,    Wilts,    Creevey 

and  James  Brougham  returned  for, 

571 
Druiy  Lane  theatre,  and  Whitbread, 

241 
Dublin,  42  ;  Creevey's  visit  to,  510, 

529 

Du  Cane,  572 

Ducie,  Lord,  572 

Dudley,  John  William  Ward,  1st 
Earl  of.  III,  112,  140,  151,  162, 
174,  262,  410,  442,  494,  500,  501, 
547.  585.  597  ;  and  Jekyll,  189  ; 
Rogers,  the  ^tW poet,  255  ;  Foreign 
Secretary,  176  ;  "a  Ward  in 
Chancery,"  483 

Duff,  Captain,  killed  at  Trafalgar, 
69 

Dufferin,  Lady  {nee  Sheridan),  39 

Duncannon,  Viscountess  (Lady  Maria 
Fane),  415,  513-515.  5i8,  524 

Duncannon,  Viscount  (4th  Earl  of 
Bessborough),  351,  358,  565,  596; 
a  conversation  between  Tierney 
and,  327 ;  Mrs.  Murphy's  letter, 
452  ;  "  now  counts  noses  on  the 
other  side,"  458  ;  his  Bessborough 
estates,  513-518,  524  ;  Durham  and 
Lady  Jersey,  561  ;  the  Reform  Bill 
draft,  606  ;  and  Anglesey's  views 
on  Ireland,  607  ;  Home  Secretary, 
627 

Duncombe,  Tom,  420,  509,  630,  632 

Dundas,  Henry.  See  Melville,  Vis- 
count 

Dundas,  Lord,  46,  158,  573 

Dundas,  Mrs.  (nee  Williamson),  423 

Dundas,  Tom,  338,  376,  423,  521 

Dundass,  a  Richmond  surgeon,  28 

Dundonald,  Admiral  Lord  Cochrane, 
loth  Earl  of,  128  ;  tried  for  Stock 
Exchange  conspiracy,  203 

Dunfermline,  Lord.  ^V^  Abercromby, 
Hon.  James 

Dunmore,  4th  Earl  of,  585 

Dunning,  Mr.,  162 

Du  Paquier,  Louis  XVIII. 's  valet, 
368 

Durham,  Countess  of  (Lady  Louisa 
Grey),  349,  352,  357,  425,  434, 
437,  559,  608 

Durham,  John  George  Lambton,  1st 
Earl  of  ("King  Jog"),  265,  332, 
335.  342,  351-354.  357.  374.  376, 
381,  398,  413,  422-424,  433.  489. 


INDEX. 


689 


496,  538,  543,  559,  561,  565,  571, 
594,  633,  636,  647,  651  ;  interview 
with  Queen  Caroline,  349  ;  Miss 
Copley  on,  373  ;  a  victim  of  temper, 
39",  399  j  letter  to  Creevey,  396  ; 
a  scene  with  Creevey,  433,  434 ; 
his  debts,  462  ;  Brougham's  perfidy, 
468 ;  his  peerage — an  appeal  to 
Brougham,  484  ;  and  Reform,  572, 
589,  606,  634  ;  peer-malcing,  583  ; 
the  Times'  attack  on  Grey,  599, 
636  ;  scene  between  Grey  and,  607  ; 
furious  for  dissolution,  608  ;  his 
exclusion  from  Grey's  cabinet,  619  ; 
a  quarrel  with  Brougham,  631  ;  his 
Glasgow  dinner,  639  ;  accepts  the 
Canada  mission,  674,  676  ;  inter- 
view with  Queen  Adelaide,  677 

Durham,  Mrs.,  Creevey's  landlady, 
565,  571,  602,  623 

Duval,  Justice,  327 

Duvernay,  the  opera  dancer,  615 


East  India  Company,  88,  120,  130, 

134,  143,  291,  669 
East  Retford,  disfranchised,  500 
Eaton,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  12 
Ebrington,  Viscount,  652 
Eckersley,  Mr.,  279 
Eden,  Hon.  George  (afterwards  2nd 

Lord   Auckland),    114,    120,    344, 

437,  456 

Eden,  Sir  William,  449 

Edinburgh  mail,  the,  633 

JEdiiiburgh  Review,  30,  119,  186,  2Q5, 
248,  381,  441,  492,  509,  631 

Edvvardes,  Mr.,  414 

Edwards,  box-keeper  of  Drury  Lane 
theatre,  Sheridan's  valet,  59 

Egremont,  Earl  of,  337,  506 

Egypt,  Napoleon's  claims  on,  14 

Eldon,  Earl  of,  109,  119,  136,  214, 
257,  261,  420,  477,  642  ;  and 
George  IV.,  157,  159,  298  ;  Roman 
Catholic  question,  166,454  ;  jealous 
of  Mrs.  Leach,  258  ;  the  Pains  and 
Penalties  Bill,  308,  314,  317,  325, 
329.  333,  335  ;  •'^ome  sharp  words 
with  Liverpool,  323,  339  ;  Grey's 
palaver  with,  337  ;  Canning  and, 
385,  410;  "the  most  noble  of  all 
the  beasts,"  391  ;  Lord  Ports- 
mouth's case,  405 ;  resigns,  437, 
455  ;  the  patronage  question,  445  ; 
*•  lock  the  door  on  Eldon  and  Co.," 


456,  457,  459  ;  Brougham  and,  463, 
566;  "whining  at  his  unhappy 
fate,"  494 

Elizabeth,  Princess,  3rd  daughter  of 
George  III.,  wife  of  Frederick, 
Landgrave  of  Hesse- Homburg,  339 

Ellenborough,  Lady  (;//^  Digby),  422 

Ellenborough,  Lord,  40,  75,  181, 
421,  422,  539 

Lllesmere,  Earl  of  (Lord  F.  Leveson), 
^  185,  401,  406,  530 

Ellice,  General,  609 

Ellice,  Lady  Hannah  («/<.'  Grey), 
615 

Ellice  of  Invergarry,  Edward,  615, 
652 

Ellice  of  Invergarry,  Mrs.  Edward 
{/lie  Balfour),  615,  652 

Ellice  of  Invergarry,  Mrs.  Edward 
(previously  Mrs.  A.  Speirs),  615 

Ellice,  Rt.  Hon.  Edward  ("Bear"), 
416,  435,  449,  457,  572,  585,  592, 
599,  610,  615,  61S,  670,  673,  674, 
678  ;  in  Paris  with  Madame  de 
Lieven  and  Louis  Philippe,  651 

Elliot,  Mr.,  21,  214 

Ellis,  Agar,  559 

Ellis,  Charles  Rose  (Earl  of  Seaford), 

97,  151 
Elvas,  88 

Ely,  flogging  of  mutinous  militiamen 
,  at,  33 
England,  at  war  with   France,   10  ; 

and   the  independence  of  Greece, 

475 
Enniskillen,  Larl  of,  277,  323,  336, 

337 

Entertaining  Knowledge,  Library  of, 

548 

Erroll,  Lord  and  Lady,  523 

Erskine,  Captain,  234 

Erskine,  Lord,  3,  75,  119,  181,  209, 
308,  318,  348  ;  on  Russia's  offer  of 
mediation,  15  ;  z^.  Windham,  19  ; 
letter  to  Creevey,  136  ;  and  Alex- 
ander L,  195  ;  K.T.,  211  ;  "The 
Green  Man  and  Still,"  212  :  "the 
most  beautiful  speech  possible," 
317  ;  a  fainting  fit,  335  ;  greatly 
applauded,  338  ;  on  Francis  and 
Junit(S,  350  ;  "  very  old  and  for- 
lorn," 410 

Essex,  Countess  of  (Catherine 
Stephens),  628 

Essex,  Earl  of,  99,  in,  296,  380, 
496,  572,  611,  612,  614,  627,  628, 
648,  655,  663,  671,  672  ;  his  letters 
to  Creevey,  632,  665 


690 


INDEX. 


Esterhazy,  Prince,  438,  555,  578,  604, 

605,  609 
Esterhazy,  Princess,  541 


Fagal,  General,  220,  222,  286 
Fane,  John,  AI.P.    for   Oxfordshire, 

376 
Fane,  Lady  Maria  (Lady  Duncannon), 

513-515 
Fawices,  Mr.,  397 
Featherstone,  Sir  H.,  295 
Felice,  Madame,  356 
Fellowes,  Rev.,  the  Queen's  chaplain, 

359 

P  erdinand  of  Wurtemberg,  Prince,  69 

Ferdinand  VIL  of  Spain,  248,  395, 
406,  432 

Fergus,  Provost  of  Kirkcaldy,  427 

Ferguson,  Cutlar,  Judge  Advocate- 
General,  672 

Ferguson,  Major-General  R.  C.,  105, 
109,  122,  158,  212,  337,  344,  376, 
378,  384,  413,  449,  490,  493,  498, 
618  ;  his  motion  for  production  of 
Milan  Commission,  312  ;  the 
railway  movement,  429 

Ferguson,  Miss,  345 

Ferguson,  Mrs.,  572 

Ferguscm  of  Raith,  General  Sir 
Ronald,  387,  389,  426 

Ferguson,  Robert,  389 

Fesch,  Cardinal,  381 

Fife,  Lord,  244 

Filanqueri,  88 

Firma^on,  Madame  de,  438 

Fitzallen,  Lord,  656 

FitzClarence,  Lady  Frederick  (Lady 
Augusta  Boyle,  642 

FitzClarence,  Lord  Frederick,  425, 
642,  677 

Fitzclarence,  Miss,  566 

Fitzgerald,  "  Fighting,"  470 

Fitzgerald,  Hon.  W.  Vesey  (after- 
wards Lord),  392,  489,  502,   509, 

535 
Fitzgerald,  Lady  Cecilia.     See  Foley, 

Lady 
Fitzgerald,   Lady  Olivia  (afterwards 

Kinnaird),  273,  444 
Fitzhardinge,    Admiral    Sir   Maurice 

Frederick    Berkeley,    Lord,     147, 

.527,  530 
Fitzharris,  Lord,  33 
Fitzherbert,  Mrs.,  4,   47-50,   65-72, 


82,   138,   139,   163,  176,  179,  554, 

661,  662 
Fitzpatrick,  General  Richard,  13,  94, 

121,  157,  183 
Fitzroy,    Lady    Mary   {tice    Gordoa- 

Lennox),  527 
Fitzroy,  Lord  Henry,  164 
Fitzroy,  Sir  Charles,  527 
Fitzwilliam,  Countess  of,  332 
Fitzwilliam,  4th  Earl  of,  27,  29,  Si, 

109,  166,  263,  303,  308,  313,  332, 

336,  348,  353.  357,  433.  45i.  477. 
497 ;  proposed  subscription  for 
Queen  Caroline,  354 ;  his  coach 
at  Doncaster,  462  ;  Madame  de 
Eleven's  compliments,  472  ;  and 
Brougham,  475 

Fitzwilliam,  5th  Earl  of.  See  Milton, 
Viscount 

Flahault,  General  de,  250,  613 

Flahault,  Madame  de  (afterwards  de 
Souza),  251,  326 

Fleury,  Duchesse  de,  480 

Flint,  Sir  Charles,  416 

Floridas,  the,  seized  by  U.S.A.,  279 

Fludyer,  Mr.,  529 

Flynn,  Captain,  323,  329 

Foley,  Lady  (Lady  Cecilia  Fitz- 
gerald), 444,  546,  551 

Foley,  Lord,  296,  317.  33 1,  335.  338^ 
547,  551.  568,  572,  595.  675 

Foljambe,  Savile,  619 

Folkestone  («/i?Mildmay),  Viscountess- 
(Lady  Radnor),  190,  272,  622,  661 

Folkestone,  Viscount  (afterwards  3rd 
Earl  of  Radnor),  125,  160,  213, 
257.  376,  591.  659;  and  Mrs. 
Clarke,  112,  115,  116,  620  ;  letters 
to  Creevey,  96,  190,  271;  "will 
take  his  line,"  347  ;  Canning's 
tirade  against,  410  ;  Creevey  and 
James  Brougham  returned  for 
"Downlon  by  favour  of,  571 

FoUett,  Sir  William,  Solicitor-Gen- 
eral, 653 

Fonblanque,  M.,  49,  150,  654 

Fontenay,  Comtesse  de  (afterwards 
de  Tallien),  6,  7 

Foote,  the  actor,  327 

Forbes,  Lord,  161,  520,  523 

Ford,  Mrs.,  628 

Fordyce,  John,  Receiver-General  of 
Land  Tax,  Scotland,  34,  35 

Fordyce,  Mrs.  {nee  Maxwell),  34 

Forester,  Hon.  Anne  (Lady  Chester- 
field), 556 

Forester,  Hon.  Isabella  (Mrs.  Geo. 
Anson),  556 


INDEX. 


691 


Forester,  Lord,  55S 

Forester,  Mr.,  184 

Forster,  Mr.,  168 

Forsyth,  Mr.,  382 

Fortescue,  George,  406 

Fortescue,  Lady,  329 

Fortescue,  Lord,  308,  329 

Foster,  J.,  Chancellor  of  Exchequer, 
Ireland,  31 

Fouche,  Joseph,  Due  d'Otranto,  7, 
214 

Fox,  Charles,  497,  610,  652,  671, 
674 

Fox,  Charles  James,  at  Talleyrand's, 
5  ;  "Liberty  asleep  in  France,  but 
dead  in  England,"  9  ;  speech  on 
Russia's  offer  of  mediation,  16  ;  his 
*•  palaver  about  a  military  com- 
mand for  the  Prince  of  Wales,"  18  ; 
*'a  proscribed  victim  of  fortune," 
20;  Windham's  enmity,  21  ;  "de- 
votion to  Fox,"  22 ;  alliance  with 
Pitt,  23,  27,  37  ;  letter  to  Creevey, 
23';  speech  on  the  St.  Vincent  en- 
quiry, 24  ;  Sheridan's  project,  25  ; 
George  III.  v.,  26,  660  ;  Prince  of 
Wales's  relations  with,  27,  28,  .11, 
46,  47,  82,  146  ;  and  P'ordyce,  34, 
35  ;  his  conduct  in  the  Athol 
business,  37  ;  Romilly's  support, 
41  ;  Graham  Moore  on,  78  ;  his 
illness  and  death,  79,  80-84  5  the 
highest  of  "  All  the  Talents,"  84  ; 
Whitbread  on,  92  ;  Creevey  on, 
?43  ;  Brougham  compares  Pitt  and, 
172;  his  friend  Fitzpatrick,  ISo  ; 
the  Fox  dinner  at  Newcastle,  187  ; 
his  great  influence,  290 ;  proposed 
epitaph,  299,  300  ;  at  Lady  Olivia 
Fitzgerald's  wedding,  444  ;  Ciiey, 
Grenville,  and,  459,  461 

Fox  Club,  348 

Fox,  Henry  (afterwards  4lh  Lord 
Holland),  610 

Fox,  Lady  Mary,  610,  652,  674 

Fox,  Mrs.,  70,  300 

France,  the  king  guillotined,  i  ;  in 
1802  . .  4  ;  war  with  England,  10 ; 
her  aggressive  policy,  14 ;  Alex- 
ander I.'s  offer  of  mediation,  15  ; 
Austria,  Prussia,  and  England  ?-., 
44  ;  her  Spanish  South  American 
colonies,  86-88 ;  Cintra  Conven- 
tion, 89 ;  the  Plundred  Days, 
Waterloo,  213-238;  and  Greek 
independence,  475 

Franceschi,  General  (France),  loi 

Francis  I.  of  Austria,  99 


Francis,  Lady,  350 

Francis,  Sir  Philip,  61,  112,  147,  149, 

\fp;  Junius  i  350 
Franklin,  John,  606  .' 

Eraser,  Dr.,  68 
Frederick,  Landgrave  of  Hesse-Hom- 

burg,  339 
Frederick  of  Prussia,  Prince,  205 
Frederick  William  of  Salmo-Braun- 

fels.  Prince,  20o 
Frederick  William  III.,  of  Prussia, 

45,  187,  195,  196,  197 
Freeman,  631 
Freemantle,    Rt.    Hon.   Sir  William 

Henry,   127,   162,   214,  217,    272, 

282 
French,  at  the  Douro,  101-104 
French,  Lord,  521 
Frere,  657 


(ialileo,  549 

Gal  way,  ist  Viscount,  oQ 

Garth,  Captain,  538,  539,  542 

Garth,  General,  538,  542 

Gascoigne,  General,  IM.P.  for  Liver- 
pool, 155,  169,  173,  253  ;  his 
motion  to  reduce  Ordnance  Vote, 
607 

Gell,  Sir  William,  309,  311,  323,  330 

Genlis,  Madame  de,  438 

George  11. ,  51,  3.59,  588 

George  III.,  and  Addington,  8 ; 
France's  aggressive  policy,  14  ; 
against  Prince  of  Wales,  17  ;  for 
Duke  of  York,  17,  107;  "will 
never  more  exercise  the  Royal 
function,"  25  ;  v.  Fox,  26,  28  ;  his 
illness,  27,  28,  36,  65,  119,  135, 
142,  145,  146 ;  and  Pitt,  27  ;  de- 
termined on  a  Tory  Cabinet,  39  ;  v. 
Roman  Catholic  Emancipation,  43, 
84 ;  at  Weymouth,  48,  63  ;  has 
recourse  to  the  Whigs,  74  ;  "  has 
not  yet  sent  for  Wardle,"  97  ; 
Princess  Amelia's  illness  and  death, 
98,  135  ;  his  letter  to  Perceval,  99  ; 
Canning  and  Castlereagh,  106  ;  his 
popularity,  113;  "the  Gentleman 
at  the  end  of  the  Mall,"  118,  132  ; 
the  Walcheren  Expedition,  131  ; 
the  Princess  Charlotte,  176  ;  his 
death,  295,  296  ;  Princess  Eliza- 
beth's marriage,  33d  ;  shut  up  for 
10  years,  358  ;  "  Old  Nobbs,"  461  ; 
parting   with    Lord    North,    58S ; 


692 


INDEX. 


Coke's  violent  speech  against,  636  ; 
some  correspondence  with  Lord 
North,  660 
George  IV,,  4,  46,  no,  257,  417, 
421,  432,  457,  459,  462,  550  ;  pro- 
posed substitution  of  Council  for 
Viceroy  in  Ireland,  16  ;  and  George 
III.,  17  ;  a  military  command  for, 
18  ;  his  attachment  to  the  old  no- 
bility, 26;  "a  Regency  must  be 
resorted  to, "  27  ;  and  Fox,  27,  2S, 
46,  47,  82,  146  ;  a  kind  of  Calainet, 
in  ;  invites  Creevey  to  dinner,  32  ; 
and  the  Whigs,  39,  62,  76,  177, 
178  ;  Romilly,  40  ;  Creevey 's  ac- 
count of,  46-51,57-59,  62,  63  ;  and 
Sheridan,  57,  58  ;  Warren  Hast- 
ings, 59  ;  and  the  Duke  of  York, 
63,  113,  140,  209,  305;  "had  got 
more  wine  than  usual,"  65  ;  Mrs. 
Creevey  on,  65-73,  I47~I49  '■>  the 
air-gun,  66;  Mrs.  Fitzherbert,  66, 
82,  139 ;  his  grief  at  Nelson's 
death,  70  ;  Rev.  W.  Price's  letter 
to,  76  ;  Tufnell  and  Colchester,  81 ; 
his  threat  to  Perceval,  in  ;  ap- 
pointed Regent — changed  attitude 
towards  Ministers,  135-137,  142, 
144,  145,  153  ;  Bank  Note  Kill, 
145  ;  at  Brighton,  146-140  ;  Wel- 
lington and  the  Peninsular  War, 
147,  149 ;  Viotti,  the  violinist, 
148  ;  on  Sir  Willoughby  Gordon, 
150,  151  ;  end  of  Creevey's  inti- 
macy with,  151  ;  the  Dandy  ball 
incident,  152 ;  reconstructs  the 
Cabinet,  153-163  ;  Grey  and  Gren- 
ville,  153,  157  ;  sends  for  Wel- 
lesley,  156;  for  Moira,  158,  160, 
164,  165  ;  scandalous  treatment  of 
Princess  of  Wales,  176-188,  193, 
201,  203,  212,  253 ;  Brougham's 
support  of  the  Princess,  177,  178- 
183;  "our  magnanimous  regent," 
187  ;  Whitbread  on,  191  ;  visit  of 
foreign  royalties,  1S7-197  ;  Princess 
Charlotte's  engagement,  197  ;  ill, 
207,  259,  266,  297,  446,  447,  451, 
488;  M.  A.  Taylor,  211,  458  ;  for 
war  with  France,  214  ;  Bennet  on, 
241 ;  and  Ossulston,  244 ;  his  nick- 
name for  Dean  Legge  of  Windsor, 
247  ;  "  has  left  off  his  stays,"  263  ; 
Duke  of  Kent  on,  268  ;  Folkestone 
on,  272 ;  Wellington  on,  279 ; 
Brougham  on,  294;  succeeds  to 
throne,  295  ;  hostility  to,  299  ;  ex- 
cludes Queen's  name  from  Liturgy, 


302-304  ;  Sam  Spring,  310  ;  the 
chambermaid's  evidence,  313 ; 
wants  to  go  to  Hanover,  314; 
divorce  clause  abandoned,  319 ; 
his  intended  changes,  320  ;  Hutch- 
inson and  Donoughmore  at  Windsor 
with,  326,  328  ;  "  greatly  deceived," 
333  ;  his  coronation,  343  ;  insults 
Prince  Leopold,  349,  350;  "has 
slept  none,"  358  ;  his  unpopularity, 
360 ;  his  Knights  of  the  Thistle, 
361,  369  ;  squabbles  with  his  Min- 
isters, 362  ;  Lady  Jersey's  relations 
with,  367 ;  determined  to  marry 
again,  370  ;  the  print  of  his  sacred 
feet,  371;  in  Ireland,  372,  373; 
Lady  Conyngham's  opposition  ball, 
380 ;  Castlereagh's  death,  385  ;  in 
Edinburgh,  387 ;  his  sisters  and 
Lady  Conyngham,  390 ;  and  the 
AVhigs,  398,  460 ;  Lord  Albert  D. 
Conyngham,  400  ;  the  reference  in 
his  speech  to  Spain,  403,  404  ;  Lord 
Bath's  blue  ribbon,  415;  at  Ascot 
races,  419,  430  ;  "getting  very  old 
and  cross,"  425  ;  quarrel  with  Lady 
Conyngham,  431,  438 ;  distrusts 
Canning,  445  ;  the  Roman  Catholic 
question,  450,  540,  542  ;  instructs 
Canning  to  form  a  ministry,  452, 
453>  455 ;  Canning's  death,  464, 
467  ;  Snip  Robinson,  Premier,  465, 
484;  his  "good  friend  Welling- 
ton," 466,  501  ;  Herries,  Chancel- 
lor of  the  Exchequer,  470 ;  and 
Brougham,  47 1 ,  488  ;  on  Navarino, 
482  ;  and  Lady  Conyngham,  490  ; 
"  crept  into  town,"  497  ;  Bucking- 
ham Palace,  498 ;  and  Ferguson, 
499  ;  Bishop  of  Winchester's  re- 
proof, ibid.  ;  on  Creevey,  502  ; 
reports  about  his  health,  529 ; 
Captain  Garth's  case,  538 ;  v.  the 
Pope,  539  ;  his  horse  "the  Colonel," 
541,  552  ;  on  the  Wellington-Win- 
chilsea  duel,  542  ;  and  Grey,  543  ; 
his  last  illness  and  death,  552,  553, 
667 ;  the  Ordnance  Department 
tents,  575  ;  preserved  all  Mrs.  Fitz- 
herbert's  letters,  662  ;  Sir  John  Lade 
and,  677 

Gerard,  General,  544 

Gerobtzoff,  Madame,  57,  72 

Gibbon,  Edward,  599 

Gibbs,  132 

Giftbrd,  Countess  of,  59 

Clifford,  Sir  Robert  (afterwards  Lord), 
437 


INDEX. 


693 


Giles,  Mr.,  M.P.,  99,  iii 

Gillespie,  Rev.,  320 

Gilray,  37 1 

Gladstone,  Bart.,  Sir  Tohn,  120,  169, 
211,  253 

Gladstone,  W.  E,,  253 

Glasgow,  4th  Earl  of,  642 

Glenelg,  Lord,  655,  668,  676,  677 

Glengall,  Lady,  371,  3S0,  402,  449 

Glengall,  Lord,  449 

Glenlyon,  Lord,  499 

Gloucester,  Ducheis  of,  333,  349,  539, 
604 

Gloucester,  Duke  of  ("Slice"),  179, 
184,  193,  308,  332,  333,  413,  617  ; 
declares  himself  a  Radical,  348, 349 ; 
a  proverbial  bore,  351  ;  a  scene 
between  Wellington  and,  409 ; 
dangerously  ill,  641 

Goderich,  J,  Robinson,  Viscount, 
Premier,  439,  462,  465,  470,  475, 
496;  "will  cry  himself  out  of 
otifice,"  471;  "a  minister  povr 
rire,^^  477?  resigns,  483,  486;  in 
favour  of  new  peers,  583 

Goderich,  Lady,  647 

(Goldsmith,  Lewis,  666 

Goodall,  Provost  of  Eton,  605 

Goodwood,  504 

Gordon,  Colonel  Sir  Willoughby, 
Secretary  to  Commander-in-Chief, 
49>  l5o>  332;  British  Minister  at 
Troppau,  346 

Gordon,  4th  Duke  of,  1G8 

Gordon,   Hon.    Sir  Alexander,   173, 

^319 

Gordon,  James,  319 

Gordon,  Jane,  Duchess  of,  P,4,  IGS 

Gordon,  Mr.,  596 

Gore,  Charles,  671,  674 

Gosford,  3rd  Earl  of,  533 

CJoulbourn,  Henry,  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer,  554,  644 

Gower,  Lord  (afterwards  and  Duke  of 
Sutherland),  389,  390 

(irafton,  Duke  of,  168,  308,  421,  475 

Graham,  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  James,  First 
Lord  of  the  Admiralty,  576,  647  ; 
the  Reform  I'.ill  draft,  606  ;  resigns 
office  on  Irish  Church  Bill,  615, 
618;  "canting,"  616;  Grey  com- 
plains bitterly  of,  624 

(jrammont,  Antoine,  Due  At,. 619 

Granard,  2nd  Earl  of,  161 

Granard,  6th  Earl  of,  161 

Grant,  Rt.  Hon.  Charles,  Lord 
Glenelg,  President  of  the  Board  of 
Control,  501,  555,  576,  611,  638 


Grant,  Robert,  Governor  of  Bombay, 

576 
Grantham,  Lord,  336 
Granville,  Countess,   18i,  254,  402, 

438,  648 
Granville,  Earl,  216,  255,  322,  648 
Grattan,  114,  121,  216,  228,  517,  520, 

521,  523,  525 
Great  Northern  Railway,  633 
Greathed,  Mr.,  230 
Greece  v.  Turkey,  475 
Greenwood,  34,  584 
Gregory,  Under  Secretary  for  Ireland, 

Grenfell,  Charles,  568,  594,  632,  654 

Grenfell,  Pascoe,  560 

Grenville,  C,  509 

tirenville,  Lord,  4,  114,  121,  142, 
144,  146,  158,  164-166,  181 ;  leader 
of  the  Old  Whigs,  3,  21  ;  for  Fox, 

28,  461  ;  z/.  Pitt,  28  ;  forms  a  coali- 
tion Cabinet,  "  All  the  Talents," 
7S»  459  j  resigns  on  Roman  Catholic 
question,  84  ;  the  extreme  members 
of  the  Opposition,  87  ;  the  anti-war 
imrty's  rage,  93,  94 ;  Ministers' 
offers  to,  106,  no  ;  and  Brougham, 
119  ;  Tierney,  127  ;  Wellesley,  129, 
130;  his  offer  to  Whitbread,  137  ; 
refuses  to  reinstate  Duke  of  York  as 
Commander-in-Chief,  140 ;  declines 
office  under  Prince  Regent,  153 ; 
Prince  Regent  on,  157;  against 
war,  162 ;  called  by  Brougham 
' '  Bogey,"  1 79, 2 16 ;  and  "  Snoutch," 
247  ;  Alexander  I.  and,  195  ;  Grey's 
firmness,  214;  called  "the  Stale^^ 
by  Bennet,  217  ;  supports  Pains  and 
Penalties  Bill,  336 ;  Grey  and 
AYhitbread,  460 

(Grenville,  Tom,  4,  21,  28,  255 

CIresley,  Lady  Sophia,  423 

( Presley,  Sir  Roger,  423 

Cireville,  Charles  Cavendish  Fulke, 
Clerk  of  the  Council  ("Punch"), 
401,  421,  484,  511,  556,  565,  56S, 
575.  578,  583,  603,  654,  656,  672 

Greville,  Lady  Charlotte,  215,  225- 
227,  278,  279,  289,  314,  390,  502, 
578 

Greville  Memoirs,  553,  557 

Grey,  1st  Earl,  196,  615 

Grey,  Charles,  2nd  Earl,  13,  23,  27, 

29,  3o>  47.  87,  94,  loS,  no,  120, 
128,  130,  137,  142-144.  154.  158, 
159,  166,  173,  192,  217,  242,  243, 
256,  265,  308,  318,  319,  333,  348, 
351.  352,  357.  377.  379,  399.  421. 


694 


INDEX. 


423,  425,  458,  466,  484,  496,  543, 
552,  565,  571.  576,  602,  610,  626, 
649,  651,  663  ;  his  letter  to  Mrs. 
Ord  (Creevey)  on  execution  of 
Louis  XVI.,  I  ;  the  Prince  of  Wales 
and  Fox,  26  ;  commission  on  Army 
abuses,  34  ;  on  continental  confed- 
eracies, 44 ;  Prince  of  Wales  on, 
72,  157,  164;  the  reports  of  Pitt's 
illness,  80;  one  of  his  best  speeches, 
81  ;  Ministers'  offers  to,  106,  I09, 
163,  165  ;  the  Holland  campaign, 
107,  121-123,  129,  162  ;  and  Whit- 
bread,  III,  139,  183;  and  Pon- 
sonby,  1 17;  his  speech  against 
Wellington,  123  ;  Tierney's  influ- 
ence, 124-126  ;  a  job  by  Bishop 
Mansel's  brother,  129  ;  on  Creevey, 
139  ;  declines  to  reinstate  Duke  of 
York  as  Commander-in-Chief,  140  ; 
"  will  be  passed  over,"  146  ;  refuses 
office  under  Prince  Regent,  153  ; 
and  Brougham,  174,  193,  253,  471, 
475,  482,  491,  526,  561,  562,  627, 
-629,  631,  634,  ct  seq.  ;  semi-pacific, 
179  ;  the  Fox  dinner  at  Newcastle, 
187  ;  and  Alexander  I.,  195  ;  and 
Napoleon,  196,  240  ;  and  Cirenville, 
214,  247  ;  on  the  Divorce  question, 
259  ;  spies  and  informers  exposed 
by,  263  ;  Wellington  on,  287,  463  ; 
Pains  and  Penalties  Bill,  299,  310, 
313.  317,  325.  326,  329,  331.  332, 
334.  336,  337,  349  ;  proposed 
epitaph  for  Fox,  300 ;  on  the 
Queen's  letter  to  the  King,  306  ; 
Francis  and  Junius,  350 ;  Whit- 
bread,  Canning  and,  460 ;  his  son 
.and  Lord  Darlington,  464 ;  the 
Old  Whig  Guard  represented  by, 
472  ;  on  Lady  Londonderry's  dress, 
474 ;  and  the  iSIalignants,  477  ;  on 
the  Turkish  scrape,  481,  482  ;  his 
speculations  on  the  new  Govern- 
ment after  Goderich's  resignation, 
483  ;  on  Wellington's  Cabinet,  486, 
487,  493;  bis  new  "Wellington" 
coat,  497  ;  and  Duke  of  Sussex, 
ibid.  ;  his  panegyric  on  Peel,  538  ; 
and  Roman  Catholic  Emancipation, 
541  ;  and  Rosslyn  as  Privy  Seal, 
544 ;  Premier,  appoints  Creevey 
Treasurer  of  Ordnance,  557  ;  Wil- 
liam IV.  and,  558,  573,  588,  616, 
618,  628  ;  and  Lord  Durham,  559, 
574,  607,  619,  633  ;  the  Pension 
JJst,  560 ;  the  Tifnes'  attacks  on, 
561,  562,  599  ;  on  Stanley,  561  ;  his 


advice  to  Sir  John  Shelley,  564  ; 
dismissal  of  Seymour  and  Meynell 
from  the  King's  household,  567  ; 
his  appeal  for  a  dissolution,  569- 
571 ;  reduction  of  Creevey's  salary, 
570;  K.G.,  574;  down  with  influ- 
enza, 575  ;  the  Reform  Bill,  57S, 
579,  589,  606  ;  insists  on  Lord  Hill 
voting  against  Wellington,  582  ;  the 
proposed  peer-making,  583,  585, 
5S6 ;  withdraws  his  resignation, 
586,  587 ;  Creevey's  retirement, 
591  ;  Stanley's  obstinacy  about 
Irish  tithes,  594  ;  whist  at  Windsor 
Castle,  604  ;  Palmerston's  intimacy 
with  Lady  Jersey,  611  ;  his  change 
of  tone  towards  Talleyrand,  ibid.  ; 
and  J.  Parkes,  613 ;  Creevey's 
heartwhole  devotion  to,  614  ; 
Creevey's  forecast,  621  ;  appoints 
Creevey  to  the  Greenwich  Hospital 
estates,  623  ;  complains  of  Stanley 
and  Graham,  624 ;  resigns,  624  ; 
his  farewell  speech,  625  ;  his  passion 
for  dancing,  ibid.  ;  Essex  and,  632  ; 
in  retirement,  634-643 ;  O'Con- 
nell's  abuse  of,  648 ;  Queen  Vic- 
toria's voice  and  speech,  665 ; 
letters  to  Creevey,  45,  74,  467, 
475,  481,  486 
Grey,  3rd  Earl.  See  Howick,  Lord 
Grey,  Countess,  80,  82,  91,  163,  497, 

526,  552,  557.  559,  561,  567,  585, 
590,  596,  604,  605,  609,  613,  615, 
618,  625,  627,  629,  632,  634,  636, 
637,  648 

Grey,  Frederick,  634 

Grey,  General  Charles,  80,  585,  604 

Grey,  Harry,  69,  634,  670 

Grey,  Lady  Elizabeth,  423,  425,  648 

Grey,  Lady  Georgiana,  585,  604,  634, 
648,  665 

Grey,  Lady  Hannah  (afterwards  Bet- 
tesworth,  then  EUice),  615 

Grey,  Lady  Louisa  (afterwards  Dur- 
ham), 265,  349,  352,  357,425,  434, 
437,  618 

Grey,  Mrs.,  128,  433,  482 

Grey  of  Morrick,  Colonel,  ()'i,6 

Griffiths,  Lieut.  (Guards),  wounded  at 
Waterloo,  575 

Gronow,  Captain,  615 

Grosvenor,  Bob,  423,  442,  470 

Grosvenor,  Earl  (afterwards  2nd  Mar- 
quess of  Westminster),  602 

Grosvenor,  General,  399 

Grouchy,  Marechal,  237 

Guiche,  Madame  de,  630 


INDEX. 


695 


Gailford,  Earl  of,  31,  257,  322,  588, 

660 
Gully,  John,  prize-fighter,    64,   499, 

552 
Gurwood,  Wellington  Dcspatclies,  656, 

•657 
Gwydyr,  Dowager  Lady  (Lady  Wil- 

loughby  d'Eresby),  311 
Gwydyr,  Lord,  446 


H 


Habeas  Corpus,  263 

Hadley,  Lord,  76 

Halford,  Sir  Henry,   130,  576,  585, 

604 
Halket,  General,  222 
Hallam,  Henry,  614 
Hallyday,  Lady  Jane,  417 
Hamick,  Bart.,  Sir  — ,  Lord  Grey's 

doctor,  671 
Hamilton,  Colonel,  at  Waterloo,  220, 

225,  229-231,  238;  wounded,  234, 

235  ;  at  Cambray,  277 
Hamilton,  Mrs.  {nk  Ord),  220,  225, 

278,  283,  286 
Hamilton,  9th  Duke  of,  309,  406' 
Hamilton,  Lady,  70,  340 
Hamilton,  Lady  Anne,  302,  309,  359, 

366 
Hamilton,     I>ady   Charles    Douglas- 

(afterwards  Duchess  of  Somerset), 

406 
Hamilton,  Lord  Archibald,  85,  122, 

128,  309,  351,  392,  406 
Hammersley,  34 
Hammond,  General,  150 
Hamond,  Sir  Andrew,  277 
Hanbury-Williams,  Sir  Charles,  380, 

381 
Ifansard,  81 

Hardinge,  Sir  Henry,  499 
Hardy,  Lady,  256 
Hardy,  Sir  Thomas,  256 
Hare,  61,  84 
Harewood,  Earl  of,  374 
Hargrave,  Mr.,  194 
Harper,  General  (America),  279 
Harrington,  2nd  Earl  of,  o/' 
Harrington,    3rd   Earl   of,    56,    330, 

533 
Harrowby,  Countess  of,  324 
Ilarrowby,  ist  V.ax]  of,  166,  314,  324, 

328,  584,  586 
Harvey,  Mr.,  238 
Harvey,  Mrs.,  276,  279 
Harvey,  Sir  John,  670 


Hastings,  ist  Marquess  of,  627 

Hastings,  Warren,  59,  61 

Hastings,  Mrs.  Warren,  59 

Hatherton,  Lord,  630,  647 

Hawarden,  Lady,  516 

Hav/kesbury,  Lord,  St-e  Liverpool, 
Earl  of 

Hay,  Lord,  killed  at  Quatre  Bras, 
230 

Hayter,  his  picture  of  the  Queen's 
trial,  412,  672 

Headfort,  Marquess  of,  244,  668 

Heathcote,  Gilbert,  417 

Heber,  Bishop  of  Calcutta,  560 

Heber,  Mrs,,  560 

Heber,  M.P.  for  Oxford,  406 

Henry,  Mr,,  578 

Herries,  J,  C,,  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer,  470,  482 

Hertford,  Isabella,  Marchioness  of, 
82,  148,  189,  214,  343,  490,  662 

Hertford,  Marquess  of,  214,  320,  355, 
398,  436,  443,  563,  567,  569 

Hervey,  Lord,  277,  281,  429,  609 

Hesse-Homburg,  Frederick,  Land- 
grave of,  339,  359,  362 

Hey  wood,  Arthur,  610 

Hey  wood,  Samuel,  130,  171 

Hieronymus,  Queen  Caroline's  major- 
domo,  359 

Hill,  Lord  Arthur  (afterwards  Lord 
Sandys),  236,  238,  239,  283,  429, 
540,  552 

Hill,  Lord,  Commander-in-Chief, 
"  Daddy,"  277,  278,  496,  499  ; 
votes  against  Wellington,  582  ;  on 
Queen  Victoria,  672 

Hill,  Miss,  277 

Hinchcliffe,  Mr,,  378 

Hobart,  Secretary  for  Ireland,  521 

Hobhouse,  John  Cam  (afterwards  Lord 
Broughton),4o6, 423,  425, 441  ;  and 
General  Mina,  419  ;  on  Creevey's 
Reform  pamphlet,  441  ;  Woods  and 
Forests,  627 

Holland,  Lady,  "  Madagascar,"  82, 
158,  208,  249,  273,  300,  330,  341, 
346,  351.  357>  368,  379.  398,  400. 
411,  416,  428,  551,  611,  626,  651, 
653'  654,  664,  671  ;  her  letters  to 
Mrs,  Creevey,  151,  184,  189,  205; 
246,  264 ;  her  "  nutshell,"  496, 
"I  tell  you  she's  57,"  498;  and 
Sefton's  flowers,  598;  "eating  like 
a  horse,"  609;  her  "procession," 
655;  evidently  failing,  656;  her 
flattery,  675 

Holland,  Lord,   114,   120,   159,  345, 

3  A 


696 


INDEX. 


346.  35^  381,  416,  470,  471,  497, 
551,  64s,  654,  655,  674,  675; 
Whitbread  on,  100 ;  Creevey  on, 
J43  ;  on  the  state  of  public  affairs, 
144;  and  Wellesley,  154;  "quite 
inimitable,"  157 ;  and  Alexander 
I.,  195,  457;  on  Napoleon,  196; 
his  letters  to  Creevey,  206,  239, 263, 
264,  292 ;  his  love  of  tennis,  246 ; 
his  daughter's  death,  260  ;  the 
Pains  and  Penalties  Bill,  308,  325, 
334 ;  Wellington's  scrape,  348  ;  his 
apology  to  the  Emperor  of  Russia, 
357  ;  his  Bill  to  enable  Duke  of 
Norfolk  to  officiate  as  p]arl  Marshal, 
420  ;  denounced  by  the  Malignants, 
478  ;  defends  the  Navarino  business, 
483;  the  Reform  Bill,  578,  589; 
on  peer-making,  583 ;  his  agree- 
ableness,  609,  614;  making  offers 
to  Lord  Howick,  637  ;  the  reposi- 
tory of  Brougham's  confidential 
letters,  643 

Holland,  Henry,  4th  Lord,  610 

Holmes,  William,  555,  563 

Hood,  Viscount,  Lord  Chamberlain 
to  Queen  Caroline,  345,  360,  362, 

363 

Hood,  Viscountess,  359,  366 

Hope,  M.P.  for  Lancashire,  36,  280, 

281 
Hoppner,  his  portrait  of  Berkeley  and 

Keppel  Craven,  356 
Horn,  John,  of  Cambridge,  170 
Hornby,  Mrs.,  17 

Hornbys  of  Knowsley,  the,  172,  203 
Home,  Mr.,  Surgeon  of  Newcastle-on 

Tyne,  186 
Horner,  Francis,  99,  112,   157,  249; 

his  motion  on  McMahon's  salary, 

162;    Western   on,    251;    on   the 

thinking    Fund,    252 ;    his   death, 

278 
Horton,  Mr.,  172 
House  of  Commons,  tone  of  debates 

in,  21 
Houses  of  Parliament,  burnt,  630 
Houston,  Lady  Jane,  148,  545 
Howard,  Bernard.     Stv  Norfolk,  I2th 

Duke  of 
Howard,  Lord,  351 
Howard  of  Effingham,  Lord,  336 
Howick,   Lady  (Maria  Copley),   80, 

295.  306,  310 
Howick,  Lord  (afterwards  3rd  Earl  of 

Grey),    80,    373,   401,   423,    464, 

507,  585,  637,  638,  642,  652,  663, 

678 


Howman,  a  witness  in  the  Queen's 
trial,  329,  335 

Howorth,  Mr.,  78 

Howth,  Lord,  530 

Hughes,  Colonel  J.,  572,  573 

Hughes  of  Kinmel  (afterwards  Lord 
Dinorben),  80,  412 

Hughes  of  Kinmel,  Mrs.  (afterwards 
Lady  Dinorben),  80 

Hugomont,  237,  239 

Hume,  Dr.,  239,  551,  645 

Hume,  Joseph,  377,  392,  405,  408^ 
416,  418,  593,  594,  645 

Hundred  Days,  the,  213,  218 

Hunloke,  Miss  Charlotte  (Countess  of 
Albemarle),  375 

Hunt,  Henry,  "Orator,"  397 

Huntly,  Marchioness  of  (Lady  E. 
Conyngham),  333,  375 

Huntly,  9th  Marquess  of,  125,  333 

Huskisson,  Rt.  Hon.  William,  Secre- 
tary to  the  Treasury,  36,  151,  162, 
165 ;  First  Commissioner  Woods 
and  Forests,  207,  412 ;  Canning 
and,  441-443,  464  ;  the  Corn  Bill, 
464 ;  his  load  of  unpopularity, 
483  ;  and  Wellington's  Cabinet, 
486,  487;  "fell  50  per  cent.  in. 
last  night's  jaw,"  494  ;  resigns  on 
Corn  Laws,  500,  501  ;  on  Stanley, 
"  the  Hope  of  the  Nation,"  545  j 
killed  at  Liverpool,  555 

Hutchinson,  Hon.  Christopher  H., 
M.P.  for  Cork,  161,  370 

Hutchinson,  Lord,  on  substitution  of 
Council  for  Viceroy  in  Ireland, 
16  ;  Commander  of  Army  in  Egypt, 

48  ;  the  true  account  of  Austerlitz, 

49  ;  Mrs.  Creevey's  "  chief  flirt, "^ 
73  ;  "  Wellington  ought  to  be 
hanged,"  130 ;  and  the  Prince 
Regent,  138,  141,  142,  146,  149  ;. 
the  Russian  accounts  of  their 
victories,  170  ;  and  Queen  Caroline, 
302,  370  ;  interview  with  the  king,, 
326 ;  and  Creevey,  334,  335  •„ 
Creevey's  visit  to,  516-519 


Ibrahim,  General  (Turkey),  475 
Influenza,   prevalence   of,   575,    594» 

659 
Inverness,  Duchess  of  (Lady  Cecilia 

Buggin,  Duchess  of  Sussex),  572, 

585,  600,  671 
Irby,  Mr.,  442 


INDEX. 


697 


Ireland,  anomaly  of  the  Lord  Lieu- 
tenancy, 16  ;  Creevey's  visit  to  and 
impressions  of,  5 10-534  ;  Donough- 
more's  recollections  of,  520-522  ; 
Anglesey's  view  of,  524 

Irish  Church  Reform,  596-598,  615, 
616 

Irving,  Edward,  417,  427 

Isle  of  Man,  37  ;  Receiver-General- 
ship offered  to  Creevey,  591,  592 

Italy,  Napoleon  in  command  of  the 
army  in,  6 


Jacobins,  masters  of  Paris,  214,  217 

Jeffrey,  Francis,  Lord,  205 

Jeffrey,  Rev.  — ,  319 

Jekyll,  189 

Jenkinson,  Lady  Selina  (afterwards 
Lady  Milton),  619 

Jerningham,  Mrs.,  661,  662 

Jersey,  Frances,  Countess  of,  343,  367 

Jersey,  Sarah  Sophia,  Countess  of, 
189,  297,  318,  324,  326,  332,  381, 
455»  474,  492,  5?2,  576,  612; 
Alexander  I.  waltzing  with,  197  ; 
the  "  Lady  Augusta  "  of  Gknarvon, 
254 ;  and  Brougham,  259,  295, 
415,  475  ;  Creevey's  visit  to  Mid- 
dleton,  295,  296  ;  "  herself  is  a 
host,"  351  ;  and  Mrs.  Brougham, 
413  ;  scene  between  Durham  and, 
561  ;  mad  against  Reform,  565  ; 
and  Wellington,  574  ;  Palmerston 
and,  610,  611  ;  Lady  Pembroke  v.^ 

654 

John  Bull,  344 

Johnson,  Dr.  S.,  London,  134 

Johnson,  Mrs.,  417 

Johnson,  Sir  John,  Superintendent- 
General  and  Inspector-General  of 
Indian  affairs  in  British  North 
America,  406 

Johnstone,  Bart.,  Sir  G.  F.,  &5B 

Johnstone,  George,  62,  64,  65,  67, 
68,  70 

Johnstone,  Lady  Louisa,  653 

Johnstone,  Miss,  65-68 

Jordan,  Mrs.,  642 

Jourdan,  Camille,  7 

Juarenais,  Madame  de,  233,  234 

Juarcnais,  Marquis  de,  231,  233,  234 

Junius,  Letters  of,  350 

"funot,  General,  89 

Juvenal,  3rd  Satire,  134 


Karaiskaki,  General  (Greece),  475 

Kean,  418 

Keith,  Lady,  611,  612 

Keith,  Lord,  149 

Kemeys-Tynte,  Mr.,  Qoo 

Kempt,  General  Sir  James,  Com- 
mander 8th  Brigade  at  Waterloo, 
596,  600,  601,  609 

Kennedy,  Mr.,  566 

Kensington,  Lady,  413 

Kensington,  2nd  Lord  ("  Og,  King  of 
Bashan"),  78,  iii,  112,  114,  3S1, 
404,  413,  538  ;  Creevey  and  the 
Lord  Mayor's  invitation  card,  338  ; 
on  France  and  Louis  XVIIL,  403  ; 
story  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham, 
411  ;  tenders  his  son's  resignation 
to  Canning,  414  ;  the  facts  of  the 
Garth  case,  539 

Kent,  Duchess  of,  282,  283,  284,  425, 
552 ;  and  Queen  Victoria,  570, 
599,  666-668  ;  absent  from  Wil- 
liam IV. 's  coronation,  579,  580  ; 
Creevey,  619  ;  her  fetes  at  Kensing- 
ton, 652  ;  Creevey  plays  whist 
with,  669,  670  ;  and  Conroy,  674 

Kent,  Duke  of,  113,  115,  276,  297  ;: 
Creevey's  notes  on  a  conversation 
with,  269-271,  667  ;  his  mother's 
illness,  282  ;  his  appearance,  283  ; 
Wellington's  jokes  about,  284 

Kenyon,  Lord,  308 

Keogh,  a  Dublin  silk  mercer,  520, 
^521 

Keppel,  Lady  Anne  (Countess  of 
^  Leicester),  378,  439 

Keppel,  Lady  Mary  (afterwards 
Stephenson),  439 

Kerr,  Lord  Mark,  18 

Kerry,  Earl  of,  550,  596 

Kerry,  Knight  of,  454,  456,  523 

Kew,  Mr.,  392 

Kilkenny,   the  Catholic  meeting  at, 

524 
Kmg,  Lady,  413,  414 
King,  Lord,  352,  406,  413,  414,  421 
Kingston,  Earl  of,  372,  421 
Kinnaird,   Hon,  Douglas,  416,  440, 

444 
Kinnaird,   Lady  Olivia  (Fitzgerald), 

273.444 
Kinnaird,  Lord,  114,  2i&,  258,  262, 
574 ;  against  Prince  Regent  and 
Bank  Note  Bill,  146  ;  his  arrest  by 
Napoleon,  244 ;  takes  Lady  C. 
Lamb's  Glefiarvon  to  Mrs.  Creevey, 


698 


INDEX. 


254  ;  and  the  Antiquary,  255  ; 
"Wellington  and  the  Marinet  inci- 
dent, 272,  276  ;  the  plot  in  Prince 
of  Orange's  favour,  286  ;  his  fatal 
illness,  443 
Kirkwall,  Lord  (afterwards  5th  Earl 

of  Orkney),  438 
KnatchbuU,  Mr.,  644 
Knight,  Mr.,  a  barrister,  539 
Knighton,    Sir    William,    129,    446, 
462  ;  George  IV. 's  executor,  575 


Labedoyere,  General,  2iQ 

Lade,  Sir  John,  Queen  Victoria's 
generosity  to,  677,  678 

La  Fayette,  7,  520 

Lamb,  George,  381,  543 

Lamb,  Hon.  William.  See  Mel- 
bourne, Viscount 

Lamb,  Lady  Caroline  [nee  Ponsonby), 
Ghftarvo?i :    The    Fatal    Passion, 

254 

Lamb,  Mrs.  George,  344,  381 

Lambton,  Hedworth,  671 

Lambton,  John  George.  See  Dur- 
ham, Earl  of 

Lambton,  Lady  Louisa  (nee  (!rey). 
See  Durham,  Countess  of 

Lambton,  Mrs.  William,  425 

Lancey,  de,  238 

Lane,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fox,  438,  556 

Langdale,  Lord  and  Lady,  664 

Langford,  Lord,  294 

Lansdowne,  Henry  Petty,  3rd  Mar- 
quess of,  10,  128,  163,  259,  308,  318, 
326,  329,  336,  340,  377,  416,  437, 
454-458,  464,  468,  484,  496,  550, 
664  ;  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer 
in  "All  the  Talents,"  42  ;  amend- 
ment censuring  Pitt,  74  ;  opposed 
at  Cambridge  by  Palmerston  and 
Althorp,  75-77  ;  Whitbread  on  his 
leadership  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, 100,  112  ;  succeeds  to  Earl- 
dom, 100,  113  ;  and  Creevey,  122, 
141  ;  Grey's  view  of  Canning,  159  ; 
Alexander  I.  and,  195  ;  Wellington 
on,  286  ;  a  furious  speech,  325  ; 
Wellington's  scrape,  348  ;  Soult's 
offer  of  Murillos,  412  ;  Althorp 
on,  459,  463  ;  Goderich  put  over 
him,  465  ;  and  Herries,  470  ;  de- 
nounced by  the  Malignants,  478  ; 
in  favour  with  George  IV.,  482, 
483;  Sefton  on,  4S6  ;  "  Roscius," 


576  ;  Auckland's  appointment  to 
the  Admiralty,  619 

Lansdowne,  Marchioness  of,  256 

Lansdowne,  2nd  Marquess  of,  36, 
100,  113,  130 

Laon,  280 

Las  Casas,  403 

Lascelles,  Lord,  294 

Latouche,  David,  his  motion  v. 
Catholic  petition  to  Irish  House  of 
Commons,  520 

Lauderdale,  8ih  Earl  of,  13,  130,  184, 
208,  209,  213,  253,  256,  297,  368, 
493  ;  Byron's  poem  rejected  by 
Murray,  294  ;  and  Brougham,  30, 
370,  496  ;  the  Queen's  trial,  317, 
323.  332,  335  ;  ^-^-Tm  369  ;  nego- 
tiates between  George  IV,  and 
Lady  Conyngham,  431 

La  Vallette,  246 

Lawley,  M.P.  for  Warwickshire,  376 

Lawrence,  Sir  Thomas,  his  portrait 
of  Lady  Conyngham,  376 

Leach,  Mrs.,  258 

Leach,    Vice-Chancellor,    298,    312, 

333.  438,  559  .  .         f 

Leamington,    Creevey's    opmion   01, 

555 
Leconfield,  ist  Lord,  507 
Lee,  spokesman  at  Covent  Garden, 

97 
Leeds,  Duke  of,  498 
Legge,  Dean  of  Windsor,   "  Mother 

Frump,"  247 
Legh  of  Lyme,    M.P.   for   Newton, 

233 
Leicester,  Countess  of   (Lady  Anne 

Keppel),  37S 
Leicester,  Rev.  — ,512 
Leicester,    ist   Earl   of.     See    Coke, 

Thomas 
Leicester,  Thomas  William,  ist  Earl 

of,  378,  418,  674 
Leigh,   Egerton,  of  the  West  Hall, 

Cheshire,  490 
Leigh,  Marianne  (Hon.    Mrs.  James 

Abercromby),  490 
Leinster,  Duchess  of,  533 
Leinster,  Duke  of,  308,  310,  348,  373, 

421,  496,  523,  532,  580 
Le  Marchant,  Brougham's  secretary, 

579 
Lemon,  Miss,  378,  407 
L'Enfant,  Council  of  Pisa,  293 
Lennox,  Lady  Louisa,  429 
Lennox,  Lord  William,  417 
Leopold,  King  of  the  Belgians,  413, 

415.  599 


INDEX. 


699 


Leopold  of  Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, 
Prince,  258,  266,  270,  349,  425,  552 

LevesoD,  Lady  Francis  (nee  Greville), 
390,  401 

Leveson,  Lord  Francis  (afterwards 
Earl  of  EUesmere),  185,  401,  406, 
530 

Leveson-Gower,  Lord  Francis,  Secre- 
tary for  Ireland,  502,  511 

Leveson-Gower,  Lord  Granville,  206 

Leycester,  126 

Liancourt,  J\L,  5 

Lichfield,  Lady,  619 

Liddell,  423 

Lieven,  Prince  de,  509,  604,  621 

Lieven,  Princess  de,  326,  357,  446, 
471,  472,  509,  53S,  604,  621,  632, 

651 
Ligny,  236 

Lindley,   Hester  (Mrs.  R.  B.  Sheri- 
dan),   4,   39,   52,    54,   55,   60,   72, 
80-82 
Lindley,  Mr.,  54,  55 
Lindsay,   Lady  Charlotte,   1S2,   1S3, 

199,322,330,  345,  597 
Lindsay,  Mr.,  323 
Lister,  416 
Littleton,    created    Lord   Halherton, 

630,  647 
Liverpool,  Sir  Charles  Jenkinson,  ist 
Lord  Hawkesbury,  and  1st  Earl  of, 
his  speech  on  Russia's  offer  of 
mediation,  15  ;  Wax  Minister,  96  ; 
Wellington's  letter  on  the  Portu- 
guese soldiers,  12S,  131  ;  interview 
with  Prince  Regent,  157  ;  Canning 
and,  159,  41 1,  445  ;  Prime  Minister, 
165,  166,  175  ;  his  letter  in  reply 
to  Princess  of  Wales'  remonstrance, 
177  ;  entertains  foreign  royalties, 
194;  and  Sheridan,  195  ;  "Jenky," 
211,  260,  38S  ;  the  Princess  of 
Wales'  intended  return  to  Kensing- 
ton Palace,  212  ;  for  peace,  214  ; 
Roman  Catholic  limancipation, 
293;  Queen  Caroline's  increased 
allowance,  301-304 ;  Pains  and 
Penalties  Bill,  304,  308,  309,  318, 
329,  338  ;  the  divorce  part  of  the 
15ill,  317  ;  sharp  words  with  Lldon, 
323)  339  ;  the  Italian  witnesses, 
325.  336;  and  Grey,  332,  336, 
337  ;  Wellington's  scrape,  348 ; 
the  Queen's  Will,  364  ;  the  King's 
Knights  of  the  Thistle,  369  ;  trying 
to  keep  peace  with  Spain,  404 ; 
the  Corn  Laws,  443  ;  an  apoplectic 
stroke,  447,  450 


Liverpool,  Charles   Cecil  Cope,  3rd 

Earl  of,  619 
liverpool  and  Manchester  Railway, 

429,  5.45.  555 

Llandah,  Lord,  Memoirs,  264,  523 

Lloyd,  378 

Loch,  Mr.,  K.C.,  108 

"  Loco  Motive  machine,"  545 

Loison,  General,  103 

Londonderry,  Charles  William,  3rd 
Marquess  of,  Wellington's  Adjutant- 
General    in    the    Peninsula,    423, 

435.  455.  473.  477.  495 
Londonderry,    Frances    Anne,    Mar- 
chioness  of,    400,    422,    423,  433, 

435 

Lonsdale,  Countess  of,  469 

Lonsdale,  2nd  Earl  of,  254,  317,  323, 
469,  489 

Lories,  Baron,  227 

Lothian,  5th  Marquess  of,  13 

Louis  XVI.,  guillotined,  i 

Louis  XVIII.,  and  Fouche,  8;  re- 
stored to  throne,  187,  190 ;  visits 
London,  187  ;  Ney's  offer  about 
Napoleon,  214;  Soult  resigns  War 
Ministry,  220  ;  words,  not  deeds, 
223  ;  and  Baron  Lories,  227  ;  well 
received  at  I^e  Cateau,  239 ;  pro- 
posals to  dethrone,  286  ;  Tierney's 
"frightful  intelligence,"  346;  the 
operation  of  signing  papers,  368 ; 
Kensington  in  a  fury  v.,  403  ; 
Erskine's  wish,  410 

Louis  Philippe,  612,  651 

Lowe,  .Sir  Hudson,  Quarter-Master- 
General,  224  ;  his  marriage,  247  ; 
Wellington  on,  288,  289  ;  O'Meara's 
letter  to,  B82  ;  and  Major  Popple- 
ton,  389 

Lowther,  Lord,  449,  489 

I>ucien  Buonaparte,  215,  226 

Lugano  witnesses,  the,  316,  317 

Lushington,  Dr.,  328,  431,  654; 
present  at  Queen  Caroline's  death, 
363  ;  the  Queen's  funeral,  364,366  j 
Phillimore  put  over  his  head,  482 

Lushington,  Mrs.,  431 

Luttrell,  Henry,  400,  509,  538,  565, 
578,  611,  614,  656 

LUtzen,  Madame,  Queen  Victoria's 
governess,  665 

Lyndhurst,  Lady,  540,  565 

Lyndhurst,  Lord  (Copley),  437,  455, 
456,  586,  640,  642-644,  665,  666 

Lyttelton,  Lord  and  Lady,  597 


700 


INDEX. 


M 


Macaulay,  Lord,  on  Twiss,  354; 
Lansdowne  and,  550;  his  "me- 
morable words,"  580  ;  Creevey  on, 
596 

Macdonald,  James,  120,  162,  321, 
328,  377,  462,  571,  596 

Macdonald,  Marshal,  221 

Macdonald,  Norman,  522 

Mack,  General  (Austria),  44 

McKenzie,  Mr.,  481,  485 

Mackintosh,  Sir  James,  3,  254,  354, 
427, 483  ;  in  Paris,  5-7  ;  and  Perry, 
298  ;  Fox's  epitaph,  299,  300 

IMcMahon,  Colonel  Sir  John,  Prince 
Regent's  private  secretary,  etc., 
39,  66,  71,  81,  82,  no,  III,  136, 
140,  162,  179,  447 

Mad  dock,  Mr.,  12 

Madrid,  occupied  by  Wellington,  178 

Magdalene  College,  Cambridge, 
Library,  622 

Magnetism  (mesmerism),  exhibition 
of,  673 

Magra,  517 

Mahon,  Lord,  86 

Mahon,  The  O'Gorman,  536 

Maitland,  General  Sir  Peregrine, 
230,  527 

Maitland,  Lady  Julia,  402 

Maitland,  Lady  Sarah  {nt'd  Gordon- 
Lennox),  527 

Malignants,  the,  477,  478 ;  quarrel 
with  Brougham,  491 

Mallet  du  Pan,  M.,  288 

Malmesbury,  ist  Earl  of,  277 

Malta,  10,  14 

Manchester,  6th  Duke  of,  649 

Mann,  Sir  Horace,  Minister  at 
Florence,  603 

Manners,  Jack,  244 

Manners,  Lady  Louisa,  417 

Manners,  Lord  Chancellor  (Ireland), 

314.  405 
Manning,  Mr.,  125 
Mansel,  Bishop,  129 
Mansfield,  Lord,  337 
Manson,  General,  61 
Manvers,  Earl  and  Countess,  596 
Marble  Arch,  650 
March,  Lord,  222 
Marcot,  M.,  265 
Marie  Antoinette,  642 
Mariette,  328 
Marinet,  272,  276 
Marjoribanks,  S.,  65S 
Markham,  Mr.,  68 


Marlborough,  Duke  of,  13,  77,  504, 

609 
Marmont,   General,    173,    190,    225, 

589 
Martin,  Harry,  Master  in  Chancery, 

136,  410,  589 
Martin,  Harry,  the  regicide,  589 
Martyn,  lOO,  112 
Mary,  Queen,  507 
Maryborough,  Lord,  466 
Mathews,  54 
Maude,  457 

Maule,  Solicitor  to  Treasury,  323 
Maxwell  of  Monreith,  Miss  Catherine 

(Mrs.  Fordyce),  34 
Maxwell,  Sir  William,  of  Monreith, 

M.P.,  Ill,  122,  128 
Maynooth   College,   517,   521,   522, 

534 
Meath,  Lord,  373 

Mecklenberg-Strelitz,  Duke  of,  205 
Melbourne,  Viscount  (Hon.  William 
Lamb),  254,  255,  311,  381,  509, 
555.  558,  561,  568,  606,  611,  650, 
663,  664,  670,  671  ;  in  favour  of 
disfranchisement,  500,  501  ;  his 
crim.  con.  case,  502  ;  letters  of 
introduction  for  Creevey,  510 ; 
Secretary  of  State,  576  ;  and 
William  IV.,  624-626,  628,  638, 
639  ;  and  Brougliam,  628,  629 ; 
action  against,  653;  "all  good 
nature  and  gaiety,"  655;  and 
Queen  Victoria,  667,  669,  674  ; 
"  the  rickety  nature  of  his  Cabinet," 
673  ;  Sir  John  Lade  and,  677 
Melbourne,  Viscountess,  255,  506 
Melville,  Henry  Dundas,  Viscount, 
10 ;  First  Lord  of  the  Admiralty, 
32  ;  impeachment  of,  33-36  ;  his 
court  in  Scotland,  85  ;  and  Broug- 
ham, 119;  a  great  favourite  witli 
Prince  of  Wales,  159  ;  the  Queen's 
funeral,  364  ;  K.T.,  369  ;  resigns 
on    Canning    becoming    Premier, 

454 
Mermet,  General,  loi 
Methodism,  rapid  growth  of,  1 13 
Methuen,  Lady,  622 
Methuen,  Paul,  Lord,  621 
Meux,  H.,  577 
Meynell,    Captain,    dismissed    from 

William  IV.'s  household,  567 
Miguel,  Dom,  King  of  Portugal,  605 
Milan  Commission,  326,  335,  499 
Milbank,   Lady  Augusta,    423,   424, 

434.  572 
Milbankj  Mr,,  423,  434 


INDEX* 


701 


Mildert,  Wm.  Van,  Bishop  of  Dur- 
ham, 473 

Mildmay,  Sir  Harry,  152,  iqo 

Mill,  393 

Mills,  John,  354,  357,  423-425,  434, 
442 

Milton,  Lady,  nSe  Jenkinson  (after- 
wards Foljambe),  619 

Milton,  Viscount  (afterwards  5th 
Earl  of  Fitzwilliam),  109,  118,  122, 
125,  157,  166,  257,  263,  471,  619 

]\Iina,  General  Espoz  y.  Commander 
of  a  Corps  under  Wellington  in 
Peninsular  War,  416,  417 

]\Iinto,  Lord,  664 

Miocci,  335 

Miranda,  General,  86 

Missionary  in  Demerara,  trial  by 
court-martial  of,  419 

Moira,  ist  Earl  of,  Idl 

Moira,  2nd  Earl  of,  16,  3i,  113,  146, 
149,  157-161,  164,  165 

Moldavia,  481 

Molesworth,  Sir  William,  659 

!Moliere,  Bourgeois  Gentilhonime,  183 

Molyneux,  Colonel  the  Hon.  Henry, 
540,  632 

Molyneux,  Lady  Georgiana,  398 

Molyneux,  Lady  Louisa,  479,  603, 
652  ;  her  letters  to  Creevey,  605, 
672,  675 

]\Iolyneux,    Lady    Maria,   479,    485, 

565 
Molyneux,   Lieut. -Colonel  the  Hon. 

George  Berkeley,  529,  595,    596, 

610,  632 
Molyneux,  Viscount,  171,  574,  610 
Monck,  217 
Alonckton,  56 
Monk,  Sir  Charles,  loS 
},ionson.      Lady     (afterwards     Lady 

Warwick),  247 
Monson,  Lord,  247 
]Montalembert,  Baron,  149 
;Monteagle,  Lord  (Spring  Rice),  449, 

450,  454.456,  522,  611,  61S,  637, 

640 
Montgomery,  540 
Montholon,  M.,  368 
Montron,  M.,  479,  4S0,  509,  658 
Moore,  R.N.,  Captain  Graham,  12, 

18,  133  ;  his  letters  to  Creevey,  17, 

24,  77,  90,  95 
Moore,  General  Sir  John,  11,  iS,  90, 

93-95,    ^''S,  657  ;    his   letters    to 

Creevey,  17,  29 
Moore,  Lady,  17 
Moore,  Peter,  256 


Moore,  Thomas,  255,  431,  574,  614, 

62S 
Morant,  Mrs.,  67,  68 
Morelaix,  Abbe,  7 
Morillo,  416 

Morley,  Countess  of,  5S5,  648 
Morley,  Earl  of,  411,  585,  648 
Mornin^sc  Chronicle^  4,  132,  177,  179, 

269,  658 
Morning  Jferald,  562 
Morning  Post,  4,  562 
Morpeth,  Lord,  6th  Earl  of  Carlisle, 

27,  78,  121,  465,  648 
Morpeth,  Lord,  7th  Earl  of  Carlisle, 

565,  618,  620,  649 
Morris,  General,  510 
Morris,  Lieut, -Colonel,  511 
Morritt  of  Rokeby,    "  Avoirdupois," 

467,  468 
Morritt  of  Rokeby,  "  Troy,"  46S 
jNIotteux,  M.,  509 
Mountague,    Lord,    his    fountain    at 

Cowdray,  505 
"  Mountain,  the,"  name  assumed  by 

Radicals,  124,  175,  182,  210,  212, 

215,  216,  247,  253,  257,  265,  290, 

299,  SU,  478 
Mountcharles,  Earl  of.  Under  Secre- 
tary Foreign  Affairs,  445,  490 
Mulgrave,  Countess  of,  672 
Mulgrave,  Earl  of,  96,  583,  618,  638, 

645 
Municipal  Reform  Bill,  650 
Munster,  Earl  of,  642,  665 
Murat,  King  of  Naples,  213,  218 
jNIurillos,      oftered      by      Soult      for 

;^ioo,ooo.  .412 
Murphy,  Mrs.,  452 
Murray,   General   Sir   George,    272, 

279,  283,  285 
Murray,  General  Sir  John,  1S5 
Murray,  John,  and  Byron,  294  ;  the 

Quarterly    Rroiri.0    on    O'Meara's 

book,    407  ;     on    the    Ladies     of 

Llangollen,  o27 
Murray,  Lady  Augusta,  Duchess  of 

Sussex,  585 


N 


Napier,  Peninsular    War,   loi,  314, 

315 
Napoleon  Buonaparte,  Mackintosh 
and,  5  ;  suppresses  the  Sections,  6  ; 
commander  of  army  in  Italy,  ibid.  ; 
his  fits  of  passion,  7  ;  his  restless 
ambition,    10,     14,    24,    29 ;    and 


702 


INDEX. 


Lord  Whitworth,  lo,  13  ;  and 
Addington,  II  ;  swept  through 
the  Black  Forest,  44 ;  Austerlitz, 
49 ;  his  armies  in  all  parts  of 
Europe,  86  ;  Spain,  86,  88,  90 ; 
"a  temperate  hardy  knave,"  96; 
overshot  his  mark,  175  ;  abdicates, 
187,  187,  189,  191,  239  ;  the  differ- 
ence between  Emperor  of  Russia 
and  King  of  Prussia,  196 ;  his 
popularity,  196 ;  escapes  from 
Elba,  213;  Ney's  offer,  214; 
Waterloo,  before  and  after,  219, 
231,  237,  240;  Kinnaird's  arrest, 
244  ;  at  St.  Helena,  266,  288 ; 
and  Blucher  at  Laon,  280 ;  Sir 
Hudson  Lowe,  288  ;  Tierney  and, 
346  ;  Princess  Borghese's  appeal, 
368;  O'Meara's  book,  381,  384; 
Casthreagh  one  of  his  imbeciles, 
385  ;  Major  Poppleton,  389  ;  Las 
Casas'  book,  403  ;  and  Montron, 
479,  480 ;  and  General  Gerard, 
544  ;  Brougham  on,  549 

Nash,  the  architect,  498 

Navarino,  battle  of,  476,  481-4S5 

Navy  Estimates,  377 

Nelson,  Earl,  69,  70,  73,  503 

New  Zealand,  king  of,  330 

Newcastle,  Duke  of,  337,  569 

Newcastle-on-Tyne,  186 

Newport,  Sir  John,  127 

Newton,  Lord,  333 

Ney,  Marshal,  190,  214,  246 

"Nimrod,"  633 

Nivelle,  battle  of,  187,  235 

NoUekens,  sculptor,  184 

Non  7111  ricordo,  322 

Norfolk,  nth  Duke  of,  "  the  Jockey," 
3,  155,  168,  169,  186,  212,  245, 
252,  413 

Norfolk,  Bernard  Howard,  12th  Duke 
of,  "Scroop,"  168-170,  245,313, 
322,  335>  336,  37 7>  413.  420,  446, 
504.  537,  538,  645,  652,  671,  677; 
deprives  Creevey  of  Thetford  seat, 
274,  275  ;  Prince  of  Wales'  advice 
to  Sam  Spring,  310 ;  letter  to 
Creevey,  325  ;  Pains  and  Penalties 
Bill,  ibid. ;  in  pursuit  of  Creevej-, 
337  ;     denounced    by    0"Connell, 

530 
Norfolk,     13th    Duke    of    (Earl     of 

Arundel),  245 
North,  Lord,  588,  660 
Northumberland,  Duchess  of,  482 
Northumberland,  5th  Duke  of,  278 
Northumberland,   6th  Duke  of,   31, 


100,  1 10,  296,  yji,  499  ;    Viceroy 

of  Ireland,  516,  535  t   -  - 

Norton,   Hon.    Mrs.    {rue  Sheridan), 

afterwards  Lady  Stirling-Maxwell 

of  Keir,  39,  647,  653 
Norton,  Mr.,  653 
Nugent,  Earl,  431 


O 


O'Callaghan,  440 

O'Connell,  David,  the  Clare  election, 
509,  535  ;  Creevey  on,   525,  593  ; 
denounces    Duke    of   Norfolk   on 
Catholic      question,        530 ;      his 
"Catholic    cookery,"     541;      his 
arrest,    558  ;    Stanley    and,     561  ; 
challenged  by  Alvanley,  646,  647 
Oldenburg,  Duchess  of,  195 
Oldi,  Madame,  328,  339,  356 
Olivia  of  CumlDerland,  Princess  (Olive 

Wilmot  Serres),  339,  340,  349 
O'Meara,  A    Voice  from  St.   Helena, 

224,  288,  381,  384,  389,  407 
Omnibus,    Creevey's   first  experience 

of  an,  604 

Oporto,  loi 

Orange,  Prince  of,  King  of  Holland. 
197,  217,  222,  285,  286;  Com- 
mander-in-Chief of  British  forces 
in  Brussels,  224 

Orangemen  (Ireland),  516,  519 

Ord,  Charles,  224,  230,  231 

Ord,    Miss    (Mrs.    Hamilton),    220, 

225,  228,  277,  2S3,  2S6 

Ord,  Miss  Elizabeth,  232,  267,  283, 
295  ;  letters  from  Creevey  to,  296, 
299,  305-318,  320-342,  343-357> 
362,  365-370,  373-381,  384,  388- 
391,  395,  398-400,  407,  409-434. 
440-444,  446-454,  462-476,  479. 
483-485,  489-499,  501-509,  511- 
534.  536-547,  550-556,  557-5S0, 
582-678 

Ord,  the  Misses,  17,  47,  147,  149, 
224,  229,  276,  277 

Ord,  Mr.,  4,  121 

Ord,  Mrs.,  i,  128 

Ord,  William,  621 

Ordnance  Office,  Creevey  appointed 
treasurer  of,  557 

O'Reilly,  George  IV.'s  doctor,  553 

Orkney,  Earl  of,  438 

Orleans,  Duke  of,  244,  595,  611,  612 

Ormonde,  i6th  Earl  of,  527 

Ormonde,  17th  Earl  of,  52S 

Osbaldiston,  Mr.,  542 


INDEX. 


703 


Ossory,  Archdeacon  of,  517 

Ossory,  Lord,  157 

Ossulston,  Lady,  351 

Ossulston,  Lord  (afterwards  5th  Earl 
of  Tankerville),  III,  121,  122,  150, 
151,  168,  210,   243-245,   254,   295, 

33h  351.  378,  381,  474.  494,  553 
Oawald  of  Auchencruive,  Alexander, 

633 
Oswald,  Lady  Louisa,  653 
Ouvrad,  the  banker,  7 
Owen,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Smythe,  512 
Oxford,  Countess  of,  3,  60,  255,  402 


Paget,  Lord  and  Lady  William,  523 

Pa!;et,  Sir  Arthur,  657 

Pains  and  Penalties  Bill,  304-342 

Palfy,  Count,  45 

Palk,  Miss  Elizabeth  Mallet  (after- 
wards Lady  Seymour),  266 

Palmerston,  Lady,  610 

Palmerston,  Viscount,  541,  555,  56S, 
652  ;  opposes  Petty  at  Cambridge, 
75,  76  ;  Secretary  at  War,  465  ; 
votes  for  disfranchisement,  500 ; 
and  Lady  Jersey,  610,  611  ;  and 
Mrs.  Petre,  618  ;  Grey  and,  628  ; 
dismissed  by  Wellington,  640  ; 
"  Cupid,"  649  ;  on  Queen  Victoria's 
great  merits,  666 

Paoli,  Sefton's  valet,  598 

Papal  States,  the,  213 

Paripol,  the  dancer,  625 

Paris,  treaty  of,  249  ;  awaiting  Napo- 
leon's entry,  220,  221 

Parkes,  Joseph,  of  Birmingham,  an 
organizer  and  demagogue,  6i2 

Parliamentary  Reform,  263,  393,  439- 

441.  593 

Parnell,  Charles  Stewart,  164 

Parnell,  Henry  Brook  (Lord  Conglc- 
ton),  31,  164 

Parr,  Dr.,  3,  359 

Patronage,  445,  557 

Paull,  his  exertions  to  obtain  Welles- 
ley's  impeachment,  226 ;  his  suicide, 
226,  383 

Payne,  George,  113,  422,  655,  658 

Pearcc,  Henry,  "the  Ciame  Chicken," 
cliampion  of  England,  64 

Pcchell,  Captain,  312 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  "Spinning  Jenny," 
126,  483,  617  ;  his  first  speech,  122  ; 
M.P.  for  Oxford,  263  ;  Creeveyon, 
354,  385-387,  442  ;  Brougham  on, 


392,  487  ;  for  Spain  against  France, 
404 ;  Ward  on,  41 1  ;  and  Canning, 
445,  454,  475  >  and  George  IV., 
452 ;  resigns  office,  454,  455  ;  Sef- 
ton  on,  459  ;  his  difficult  position, 
488,  489  ;  his  "  preconceived  pre- 
judices," 494  ;  the  Roman  Catholic 
question,  516,  536,  586,  588;  Home 
Secretary,  537  ;  Grey's  panegyric 
on,  538,  540  ;  Reform,  575  ;  con- 
sulted by  Grey  about  the  corona- 
tion, 576  ;  a  most  remarkable  de- 
claration from,  5S8  ;  and  William 
IV.,  626  ;  his  absence  in  Rome, 
638,  640,  641;  "the  humbug  of 
Jenny,"^  644 ;  predicted  failure, 
645';  his  Scotch  sentiment,  etc., 
659;  "every  word  was  gospel,'' 
676 

Pelham,  Bishop,  323 

Pellew,  Admiral,  95 

Pembroke,  Countess  of,  654 

Peninsular   War,   87,    153,  157,   160, 

175 

Penryn  borough,  bribery  and  corrup- 
tion in,  461  ;  disfranchised,  500 

Pension  lists,  560 

Pepys,  622 

Perceval,  Spencer,  96,  99,  icx),  log- 
in, 114,  119,  124,  126,  132,  136- 
138,  146,  175,  569;  assassinated, 
145,  153,  392 

Percy,  Colonel  the  Hon.,  A.D.C.  to 
Sir  John  Moore  and  Wellington, 
carried  Wellington's  despatches  to 
London  after  Waterloo,  278 

Percy,  Earl,  76,  100,  no 

Perry,  editor  of  Morning  C/ironicIe, 
132,  298 

Persia,  Russian  successes  in,  481 

Petre,  Lady,  loS,  325 

Petre,  Lord,  37,  108,  167,  168,  252, 
421,  576 

Petre,  Mrs.,  618,  630 

Pelworth,    Creevey's    description    of,. 

505 
Philips,  Sir  R.,  112 
Phillimore,  482 
Phillips,  George,  274,  406 
Picton,  General,  238 
Pierrepont,  M.,  152 
Pieton,  Madame,  69 
Piggott,  108 
Pillet,  General,  255 
Piltown  (Ireland),  514,  515 
Pirc,  General,  Red  Lancers,  231 
Pitt,  William,   3,  4,   12,  22,  69,  f^,. 

161,  263  ;  in  retirement,  8,  10  ;  his 


704 


INDEX. 


intolerance  of  Addington,  9,  23  ;  his 
treatment  of  Sir  John  Moore,  II  ; 
returns  to  House  of  Commons,  14  ; 
his  speech  for  war,  15,  16,  20  ;  and 
Fox,  21,  23 ;  Lord  St.  Vincent, 
24  ;  his  last  administration,  26,  27, 
31  ;  and  George  III.,  27  ;  in  a 
dilemma,  28 ;  fears  of  French  in- 
vasion, 29  ;  Brougham  on,  30,  119, 
120,  134,  172  ;  his  schemes  of  re- 
form, 32  ;  Melville's  impeachment, 
33  ;  Roman  Catholic  question,  ^3, 
43  ;  Boyd,  Benfield  &  Co.,  35-37  ; 
Beresford  and,  42;  Castlereagh 
and,  43 ;  the  capitulation  of  Ulm 
his  death-blow,  44  ;  his  illness,  74  ; 
and  death,  79,  461  ;  his  despotic 
authority,  260  ;  Maynooth  college, 
517,  521,  522  ;  and  the  Catholic 
delegates,  521 

Plato,  Biponthie  edition  of,  293 

Platoff,  196 

Plunket,  Lord,  523,  530,  531,  603 

Plymouth,  Lord,  337 

Pole,  Sir  Charles,  114,  122 

Police,  origin  of  the,  304 

Ponsonby,  Frederick,  107,  238 

Ponsonby,  John,  5th  Earl  of  Bess- 
borough,  610 

Ponsonby,  Lady,  no,  in,  585 

Ponsonby,  Lady  Betty,  528 

Ponsonby,  Lord,  no,  in,  128,  585 

Ponsonby,  Major-General  the  Hon. 
Sir  William,  242 

Ponsonby,  Miss,  527 

Ponsonby,  Rt.  Hon.  George,  Leader 
of  Whigs  in  House  of  Commons, 
91,  94,  107,  117,  121,  122,  124, 
125,  128,  141,  154,  162,  164,  165, 
217,  251,  257 

Ponsonby,  Sir  John,  of  Cumberland, 

513 

Poppleton,  Major,  389 
Porchester,  Lord,  124,  128 
Portarlington,  4th  Earl  of,  662 
Porter,  Colonel,  22,  352 
Portland,   Duke  of,  31^   85,  86,   96, 

106,  i*5,  331 
Portsmouth,  Lord,  insane,  405 
Portugal,    130,    134,    147-149,    160; 

her  "  soldiers  the  fighting-cocks  of 

the  army,"  128 
Portugal,  King  of,  652 
Powell,  Mr.,  322,  329,  671 
Power  of  Kilfane,  John,   518,   524- 

526 
Power  of  Kilfane,  Mrs.,  517 
Powlett,  Lady  Caroline,  442 


Powlett,  Lord  (afterwards  3rd  Duke 
of  Cleveland),  442,  449,  468,  472- 
474.  543 

Poyntz,  Miss,  264,  389 

Pozzo  di  Borgo,  M.  and  Mdme,  649 

Pretyman,  George  (afterwards  Tom- 
line),  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  202 

Price,  Rev.  W.,  76 

Property  tax,  211,  250 

Prussia,  213,  218 

Pruth  river,  481 

Pyrenees,  the,  186,  187 


Quarterly  Refietv,  407 
Quatre  Bras,  230 


Radicals,  named  "  the  Mountain," 
q.v.  ;  schism  between  Whigs  and, 
260 

Radnor,  2nd  Earl  of,  89,  96 

Radnor,  3rd  Earl  of.  See  Folkestone, 
Viscount 

Raganti,  326 

Raglan,  Lord,  416,  631 

Raikes,  "Dandy,"  448-451 

Railway  movement,  the  great,  429 

Raine,  Jonathan,  457 

Ramsay,  General  Norman,  535 

Ramsden,  Lady,  435 

Ramsden,  Mr.,  376 

Ramthorne,  172 

Ranelagh,  Lord,  552 

Rastelli,  325,  326 

Rawdon,  Hon.  John,  627 

Redesdale,  Lord,  314,  499 

Reeves,  603 

Reform,  263  ;  Act,  274,  563,  565  ; 
Creevey's  letters  on,  435,  439-441  ; 
Bill,  354,  567,  569,  570,  572,  575, 
577,  578,  580,  582-589,  593,  634 

Retrenchment  and  Reform,  614 

Ribblesdale,  Lord,  647,  649 

Ricardo,  397 

RicheHeu,  Due  de,  285,  287,  632 

Richmond,  Dowager  Duchess  of,  3S0, 

429.  527 
Richmond,  Duchess  of,  430,  504 
Richmond,  .3rd  Duke  of,  504 
Richmond,   5th  Duke  of,   223,   229, 

337,  504,  588,  606,  615,  616,  618, 

639,  647 
Ridgway,  435,  439,  440 


INDEX. 


705 


Ridley,  Sir  M.,  197,  217,  326,  379, 

423 

Ripon,  Lord,  615 

Rivers,  Lord,  196 

Robespierre,  7 

Robinson,  J.     See  Godericli,  Lord 

Roden,  Lord,  320 

Roder,  General,  223 

Roebuck,  Mr.,  659 

Rogers,  Miss,  614,  627,  628,  664 

Rogers,  Samuel,  the  dead  poet,  255, 
256,  334,  335.  537,  538,  614,  627, 
628,  647,  654,  664,  665  ;  //uman 
Li/e,  294 ;  Lady  Holland's  cat, 
400  ;  Creevey's  opinion  of,  504  ;  a 
l>/ue  dinner  at,  617  ;  Lady  Hol- 
land's procession,  655 

Rolle,  Lord,  261 

Roman  Catholic  question,  31,  43,  47, 
84,  icx),  148,  153,  157,  158,  i66, 
245,  298,  354,  373,  409,  436,  445, 
450,  454,  458,  509,  512,  516-518, 
520-522,  530,  535 

Romilly,  Sir  Samuel,  Solicitor-Gene- 
ral, in  "All  the  Talents,"  5,  122, 
130,  278,  290  ;  Prince  of  Wales' 
offer  of  a  seat  in  House  of  Com- 
mons, 40,  63  ;  Grey  on,  108  ;  calls 
Erskine  "The  Green  Man  and 
Still,"  212;  his  suicide,  243,  293, 
383,  386  ;  on  Tierney,  265  ;  "  in 
high  force,"  272 ;  and  Duke  of 
Roxburgh,  345 

Romney,  George,  his  works  at  Pet- 
worth,  507 

Ros,  Lord  de,  420,  540,  579,  580,  596, 

654 

Ros,  Olivia  de  (Lady  Cowley),  546, 
579,  605,  662 

Roscoe,  William,  historian,  Creevey's 
election  agent  at  Liverpool,  169- 
171,  211  ;  Leo:  Lorenzo  de  Medici, 
598,  622 

Roscommon,  Countess  of,  345 

Rose,  Mr.,  36 

Rosebery,  Lady,  378 

Rosebery,  4th  Lord,  335,  37S 

Rosebery,  5th  (and  present)  Lord, 
Napoleoji,  the  last  Phase,  SS2 

Rosslyn,  Earl  of,  305,  326,  333,  368, 
421,  441,  492,  493,  496;  and 
Brougham,  471  ;  Lord  Lieutenant 
of    Fife,   495,    497  ;    Privy    Seal, 

544 
Rothschild,  432 
Roxburgh,  Duke  of.  Queen  Caroline's 

Grand  Chamberlain,  345 
Royal  Exchange,  burnt,  676 


Royal  Naval  Commission,  33 
Russell,  Francis,  416,  442,  509 
Russell,  Lady  John,  widow  of  2nd 
Lord  Ribblesdale,   647,  649,  670, 

673 

Russell,  Lady  William  (ne'e  Rawdon), 
627 

Russell,  Lord  John,  157,  309,  333, 
376,  393,  421,  454,  456,  475,  603, 
610,  617,  618,  638,  649,  670; 
Creevey's  Reform  letters  addressed 
to,  435,  439-441  ;  motion  for  dis- 
franchisement of  Penryn  borough, 
461  ;  Reform,  559,  563,  606  ;  split 
between  Stanley  and,  615,  616; 
offer  to  Howick,  637;  "the  con- 
ceited puppy,"  639  ;  "  the  Widow's 
Mite,"  647 

Russell,  Lord  William,  210,  277, 
278,  456,  497,  617,  627  ;  murdered 
by  his  valet,  451,  671 

Russell,  Miss,  422 

Russell,  Mrs.,  alias  Funnereau.  See 
Cleveland,  Duchess  of 

Russia,  213,  218  ;  and  Greek  inde- 
pendence, 475  ;  and  Turkey,  481  ; 
her  successes  in  Persia,  ibid. 

Rutland,    Duke   of,    323,   443,   452, 

477,  537,  541 
Ryder,  Hon.  Henry,  Bishop  of  Lich-« 
field,  512 


S 


St.  Albans,  Duchess  of  (Mrs.  Coutts, 

n^e  Conway),  462,  559,  666 
St.  Albans,  9th  Duke  of,  415,  462, 

559 
St.  Antonio,  Countess,  483 
St.    John  of  Jerusalem,  Knights  of, 

10 
St.  Laurent,  Madame,  26S-271 
St.  Leger,   General,   195,   199,  201- 

203,  322 
St.    Paul's    Cathedral,    thanksgiving 

for  peace  on  7th  July  at,  202 
St.  Vincent,    Earl,    ist  Lord  of  the 

Admiralty,  24,  68 
Salamanca,  Battle  of,  12S,  173,  589 
Salisbury,  Dowager  Marchioness  of, 

508,  552,  572,  576,  605 
Salisbury,  Marquis  ot,  379,  415 
Salisbury,    Sarah,     Marchioness    of, 

197,  23(},  379,  409,  450,  539 
Salmo-Braunfels,    Prince    Frederick 

W^illiam  of,  205 


7o6 


INDEX. 


Sambre,   Napoleon's  passage  of  the, 

233.  240 
San  Sebastian,  fall  of,  1S7,  187 
Sandys,    Lord    (Lord    Arthur    Hill), 

236,    238,    239,    282,    429,    540, 

552 
Savory,  66-68 

Saxe-Coburg,  Princess  of,  271 
Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld,Duke of  (Prince 

Leopold),  238,  266 
Saye  and  Sele,  Lord,  449 
Scarlett,    Sir  James.      See  Abinger, 

Lord 
Scheldt  Expedition,  125,  133 
Scotsman,  387 
Scott,  Harry,  80,  81 
Scott,  Sir  Walter,  Antiquary,   255  ; 

Rob  Roy,  264 ;  George  IV. 's  visit 

to  Edinburgh,  387  ;  Rokeby,  467  ; 

Life  of  Napoleon,  545 
Seaford,   Lord  (Charles  Rose  Ellis), 

97 
Seaton,    Lord,  Governor-General   of 

Canada,  676 

Seaton,  Mr.,  382 

Sebastiani,  General,  250,  649 

Sebright,  Sir  John,  114,  540 

Sections  in  France,  the,  6 

Sefton,  Countess  of  (Hon.  Maria 
Craven),  351,  413.  425.  43i.  539> 
540,  551.  554,  561,  56.5,  575,  594, 
598,  617,  652,  657,  662,  664,  666, 
668  ;  and  William  IV.,  650 

Sefton,  Dowager  Lady,  57,  148 

Sefton,  1st  Earl  of  ("  the  Pet  "),  57, 
121;  155,  159,  171,  200,  203,  208, 
211,  261,  262,  267,  294,  300,  303, 
305,  312,  317,  318,  326-331,  345- 
347,  352,  353,  357,  374-379,  381, 
382,  398,  404,  406,  407,  411,  414, 
417,  418,  421,  426,  429-431,  435, 
439,  441,  443,  444,  450,  454,  456, 
459,  460,  463,  493,  496,  501,  508, 
510,  538,  540,  541,  546,  552,  553, 
557,  565,  568,  579,  585,  591,  594, 
602,  603,  609,  616,  619,  621,  623, 
628,  630,  643,  646,  650,  654,  659, 
670 ;  Creevey's  great  ally,  478- 
481  ;  Grey  on,  483  ;  his  letters  to 
Creevey,  486,  498,  512,  528,  542, 
556,  592,  610,  611,  613;  and 
Brougham,  484,  485,  561,  564,  569, 
572,  578,  587,  617,  629,  639,  640, 
642 ;  cracking  his  jokes  at  the 
expense  of  Huskisson  and  Dudley, 
494  ;  and  Lady  Holland,  497,  598  ; 
on  Rogers,  504 ;  and  Lord  Egre- 
mont,  506 ;  correspondence  between 


Anglesey  and  Wellington,  536; 
breaks  the  bank  at  Crockford's, 
537  ;  Lambton's  nonsense,  559  ;  ill 
with  influenza,  575,  576 ;  Lord 
P^oley's  family,  595  ;  a  story  of 
Grey,  625  ;  wins  ;^6oo  at  whist, 
631  ;  and  Lady  Grey,  631  ;  con- 
trast between  Grey  and,  641  ;. 
Charles  X.,  657,  658  ;  and  Sir  John. 
Lade,  677 

Sefton,  2nd  Earl  of,  574 

Sefton,  3rd  Earl  of,  574 

Serres,  Olive  Wilmot,  claims  to  be 
Duke  of  Cumberland's  daughter, 
339,  340 

Seymour,  Lady  {iice  Palk),  266,  652, 
664 

Seymour,  Lady  Charlotte  {nee  Chol- 
mondeley),  266 

Seymour,  Lieut.-Colonel  Hugh  Henrv, 
266 

Seymour,  Lord  (afterwards  12th  Duke 
of  Somerset),  533,  652 

Seymour,  Lord  Hugh,  266 

Seymour,  Miss,  389 

Seymour,  Sir  Horace  Beauchamp, 
266,  567 

Shaftesbury,  6th  Earl  of,  564 

Shaftesbury,  7th  Earl  of,  oiO 

Sharp,  Richard,  617 

Shaw,  Colonel,  609,  670 

Shelley,  P.  B.,  421,  442 

Shelley,  Sir  John,  564,  567 

Sheridan,  Charles,  53 

Sheridan,  Mrs.  R.  B.,  4,  39,  52,  54, 
55,  60,  72,  80-82,  620 

Sheridan,  R.  B.,  4,  22,  46,  73,  78, 
141,  142,  146,  149,  157,  162,  165, 
195,  202,  204,  659 ;  his  plan  to 
substitute  Council  for  Viceroy  in 
Ireland,  16  ;  Creevey's  distrust  of, 
21,  25  ;  his  diabolical  project,  25  ; 
and  Prince  of  Wales,  25,  26,  32, 
51-60,  68  ;  his  speech  v.  Melville, 
33  ;  The  Rivals,  55  ;  Treasurer  of 
the  Navy  in  "All  the  Talents," 
81  ;  ill,  84  ;  on  Grenville's  resig- 
nation, 85  ;  the  Regency  Bill,  138  ; 
and  Whitbread,  159,  164,  180; 
Madame  de  Stael  and,  189  ;  his 
death,  256 ;  and  Lord  Dacre,  620  ; 
his  letters  to  Creevey,  38,  39,  138  ;. 
to  Mrs.  Creevey,  39 

Sheridan,  Thomas,  38,  39,  51,  190 

Sheridan,  Mrs.  Thomas,  38,  39 

Shiel,  523,  525 

Shoenfeld,  438 

Sicard,  Brougham's  courier,  297 


INDEX. 


707 


Sidmoiith,  Rt.  Hon.  Ilenry  Adding- 
ton,  Speaker,  created  Viscount 
(nicknamed  "the  Doctor"),  4, 
43,  97,  114,  122,  123,  130,  147  ; 
Premier,  8  ;  and  Pitt,  9,  20,  23, 
26  ;  war-clouds,  10  ;  and  Napo- 
leon, II;  "  this  accursed  apothe- 
cary," 14  ;  and  his  colleagues,  19  ; 
Prince  of  Wales  and,  25,  159, 
194  ;  resigns,  26,  28  ;  Privy  Seal 
in  "All  the  Talents,"  75  ;'Home 
Secretary,  166;  for  peace,  214; 
Queen  Caroline's  trial,  314  ;  Tier- 
ney's  attempt  to  enlist  Creevey  in 
support  of,  352;  "was  never 
sober,"  373 

Sidney,  Sir  Henry,  507 

Sierra  Morena,  130 

Sieyes,  Abbe,  190 

Simmonds,  Dr.,  28 

Siniavin,  Admiral  (Russia),  89 

Six's  iron  index,  2 

Slang,  ladies'  use  of,  428 

Slave  trade,  120,  167,  214 

Smiles,  Dr.,  Memoir  of  yohn  Murray, 
528 

Smith,  Adam,  264 

Smith,  Alderman  Christopher,  418 

Smith,  Bobus,  617 

Smith,  Cullen,  656 

Smith,  Rev.  Sydney,  166,  421,  490, 
585.  597,  610,  611,  665,  671 

Smith,  Sir  William,  81 

Smith,  Thomas  Assheton,  391 

Smyth,  Jack,  230 

Sneyd,  Rev.  —  (Brighton),  60 

Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Useful 
Knowledge,  548 

Somerset,  Lady  Charlotte  Douglas- 
Hamilton,  Duchess  of  (wife  of  nth 
Duke),  406 

Somerset,  Duchess  of  {nee  Sheridan), 
wife  of  I2th  Duke,  Queen  of  Beauty 
at  Eglington  Tournament,  HO 

Somerset,  nth  Duke  of,  336,  406,  533 

Somerset,  12th  Duke  of,  533 

Somerset,  Lord  (Charles,  474,  507 

Somerset,  Lord  Fitzroy  (LordRaglan), 
416,  596,  631 

Soult,  Marshal,  loi,  102,  180,  220, 
412 

South  American  Colonies  of  Spain, 
86,  87 

Southey,  Robert,  489 

Souza,  Madame  de  (formerly  Fla- 
hault),  6,  7,  251 

Souza,  AL  de,  Portuguese  Ambassa- 
dor, 62 


Sovilliano,  88 

Spain,    86-88,    90,    105,    403,    404  ; 

French  invasion  of,  394 
Spalding,     Mrs.     {nee    Eden).      See 

Brougham,  Lady 
Speirs,    Mrs.    Alexander    (afterwards 

Ellice),  613 
Speirs  of  Elderslie,  Alexander,  615 
Spencer,    George    John,    2nd    Earl 

of,   77.   214,  305,   308,  550,    597, 

637 
Spencer,  3rd  Earl  of.     See  Althorp, 

Viscount 
Spencer,  Hon.  and  Very  Rev.  George, 

Superior  of  the  Order  of  Passionists, 

550 
Spencer,  Lord  Robert,    13,   77,    121, 

490,  504,  538 
Spring  Rice,   Lord   Monteagle,  449, 

450,  454,  456,  522,   611,  618,  637, 

640 
Spring,  Sam,  waiter  at  Cocoa   Tree 

Club,  310 
Stael,  Albert  de,  381 
Stael,  Albertine  de,  184 
Stael,    Madame   de,    184,    189 ;    her 

house  at  Geneva,  258 
Stafford,  Lady,  274,  390 
Stafford,  2nd    Marquess  of,  ist  Duke 

of  Sutherland,   27,   194,  216,  245, 

322,  328,  336,  390,  401 
Standish,  654 

Stanhope,  3rd  Earl  of,  277,  308 
Stanhope,  Hon.  Augustus,  533 
Stanhope,     Hon.      James    Hamilton, 

277,  278,  454 
Stanhope,  Mrs.,  454 
Stanhope  of  Revesby  Abbey,  Banks, 

277 
Stanistreet,  208 
Sanley,    Lord,    13th  Earl  of  Derby, 

171,  418,  430 
Stanley,  Edward,  14th  Earl  of  Derby, 

382,  41S,  470,  545,  568,   611,  624, 

626,  637,  639,  641,  651  ;  Secretary 

for  Ireland,  561,  607  ;  and  Durham, 

606;  M.P.  for  Cheshire,   597;  re- 
signs,   615,    618;     split    between 

Russell  and,  615,  616 
Stanley,  Lady  Mary  (afterwards  Lady 

Wilton),  305 
Stanley,    Mrs.    Edward  (nee  Dillon), 

56S,'597 
Sfar,  179 

Statcsma?/,  107,  436 
Stephens,    Catherine    (Lady    Essex), 

vocalist  and  actress,  628 
Stephenson,  Henry  Frederick,  natural 


7o8 


INDEX. 


son  of  lith  Duke  of  Norfolk,  348, 
389,  439,  449.  468,  497.  671 
Stephenson,  Lady  Mary  {tiee  Keppel), 

439.  451 

Stepney,  Tom,  149,  1 50 

Stevenson,  the  American  Minister, 
664 

Stirling-Maxwell  of  Keir,  Lady,  39 

Stormont,  Viscount,  31 

Strafford,  Lord,  652 

Strachan,  Admiral  Sir  Richard,  95, 
97.  129,  131,  133 

Strathaven,  Lady,  490 

Stratheden,  Baroness,  654 

Strickland,  186 

Stuart,  Lady  Elizabeth,  326        ' 

Stuart,  Mr.,  387 

Stuart,  Mrs.  Eliza  (afterwards  Moly- 
neux),  595 

Stuart  de  Rothesay,  Lord  (Sir  Charles 
Stuart),  British  Minister  at  Brus- 
sels,   210,    227,    228,    4S6,     496, 

499 

Sturges,  20 

Suchet,  General,  185 

Suffolk,  15th  Earl  of,  454 

Sumner,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  499 

Sunderland,  Lord,  266 

Surrey,  Earl  and  Countess  of,  390 

Sussex,  Duke  of,  297,  345,  348,  417, 

451.  497,  571.  573,  600,  664,  665, 

671  ;  "talked  very  sad  stuff,"  192  ; 

absent  from  Queen  Caroline's  trial, 

308  ;  his  stories  of  his  cousin  Olivia 

of    Cumberland,     349 ;    Creevey's 

tele-a-iete  wiih,  389;  "it  had  been 

a   /wrtrlancholy  day,"  421;  his   two 

marriages,  585 
Sussex,      Lady      Augusta      Murray, 

Duchess  of,  5S5 
Sussex,  Lady  Cecilia  Buggin,  Duchess 

of  (created  Duchess  of  Inverness), 

572,  585,  600,  671 
Sutherland,  Dowager  Duchess  of,  245, 

648 
Sutherland,    1st   Duke   of,    27,    194, 

216,  245,  322,  328,  336 
Sutherland,  2nd  Duke  of,    389,  390, 

665 
Sutherland,         Harriet         Elizabeth 

Howard,  Duchess  of,  648,  665 
Sutton,    Charles    Manners,    Speaker 

(Viscount  Canterbury),  114,  271 
Suwarrow,  Madame,  283 
Swift,  Dean,  523 


Tabley,  Lord  and  Lady  de,  5 12 

Taglioni,  594,  625 

Talavera,  95,  105,  107,  123 

Talbot,  540 

Talleyrand,  his  Paris  house,  5  »  de- 
mands evacuation  of  Malta,  10  ; 
Napoleon's  abdication,  239  ;  his 
reputed  son.  General  de  Flahault, 
251,  613 ;  Napoleon's  Memoirs^ 
368  ;  and.Montron,  479,  480  ;  and 
his  niece,  Madame  de  Dino,  559, 
578,  583,  604 ;  cordiality  between 
England  and  France,  560  ;  Creevey 
and,  591  ;  Lady  Grey's  hatred  of, 
605  ;  Grey's  changed  tone  towards, 
611  ;  Lady  Keith,  612  ;  kept  away 
from  Oxford,  621  ;  Grey  dining 
with,  628  ;  on  Melbourne,  651 

Tallien,  Jean  Lambert  de,  7 

Tallien,  Madame  de  (previously 
Comtesse  de  Fontenay),  6,  7 

Tankerville,  Armandine,  Countess  of 
{7u'e  de  Grammont),  440,  494,  649 

Tankerville,  Charles,  4th  Earl  of, 
36,  158,  237 

Tankerville,  Charles  Augustus,  5th 
Earl  of.     See  Ossulston,  Lord 

Tankerville,  Emma,  Countess  of  {?tee 
Colebrooke),  36 

Tarleton,  General  Sir  Banastre,  126, 
156,  169 

Tarragona,  siege  of,  185 

Tavistock,  Marquess  of  (7th  Duke  of 
Bedford),  his  speech  on  Whitbread's 
death,  242  ;  Bennet  on,  257  ;  to 
move  a  vote  of  censure,  347,  353  ; 
"infinitely  below  himself,"  354; 
Castlereagh  and,  380,  384 ;  at 
Newmarket,  421  ;  half  a  buck 
from,  433  ;  Church  Reform  Bill, 
597 ;  split  between  Stanley  and 
Russell,  616  ;  Creevey  on,  663  ; 
and  Queen  Victoria,  664,  666 

Taylor,  Michael  Angelo,  his  house 
in  Whitehall  a  rendezvous  of  the 
Whigs,  118,  160,  161,  199,  211, 
212,  344,  -345,  361,  366,  3^4-386, 
402,  403,  407,  431-433.  442.  447. 
448,  458,  494,  497,  555,  557,  626 

Taylor,  Mrs.,  M.A.,  137,  140,  141. 
345.  370,  371.  380,  400,  402,  407. 
423,  431-433.  437,  455.  461,  462, 
463,  465,  471,  474,  490,  502,  507, 
526,  536,  550,  551,  561,  609 

Taylor,  Sir  Herbert,  466  ;  the  Garth 
case,  539,  542 


INDEX. 


709 


Tempest,   Bart.,   Sir  Harry  Vane,  of 

Wynyard,  400 
Tempest,  Mr.,  435 
Tennant,  Dr.,  2 
Tennyson,    Clerk    to    the    Board   of 

Ordnance,  575,  583,  594 
Thackeray,  \V.  M.,  Vanity  Fair,  218 
Thanet,  Sackville  Tufton,  9th  Earl  of, 

120,  257,  295,  317,  318,  328,  336, 
348,  351,  353,  357,  404;  Creevey's 
opinion  of,  125,  1378;  compares 
Prince  Regent  with  Moliere's 
Bourgeois  Gentilhomme,  183 ;  his 
illness,  243  ;  Creevey  M.P.  for 
Appleby  by  favour  of,  298  ;  Queen 
Caroline's  trial,  308,  313  ;  his  bet 
with  Sefton,  328  ;  the  Whigs  little 
better  than  old  apple-women,  331  ; 
a  curious  fact  about  ytmius,  350 ; 
letter  to  Creevey,  393 ;  wins 
;^40,ooo  at  Paris  Salon,  409 ;  his 
death,  427,  507 

Thayer,  Miss,  190 

Thermometer,  Dr.  Currie's  clinical,  2 
Thetford,  Creevey  M.P.  for,  3,  169 
Thomas,  Captain,  killed  at  Waterloo, 

56s 

Thompson,  B.,  644,  645 

Thompson,  Powlett,  611,  664 

Thornhill,  Colonel,  530 

Thorpe,  Lord  Mayor,  340 

Thorpe,  Miss,  340 

Thurlow,  Lord,  30,  114;  and  Home 
Tooke,  60;  Creevey  on,  61  ;  and 
Johnstone's  port  wine,  64 

Tierney,  George,  "  Mother  Cole," 
or  "Old  Cole,"  68,  71,  94,  100, 
122,  123,  137,  162,  191,  200,  256, 
462,  499,  623,  655  ;  incessantly  in- 
triguing, 22  ;  and  Whitbread,  no, 

121,  242  ;  on  Grey  and  Whitbread, 
III;  proposes  Petty  or  Cavendish 
as  Whig  leader,  112;  '  '■personal 
qucstio7is  never  answer,"  1 14  ;  "  will 
end  in  smoak,"  124  ;  the  thanks  of 
Parliament  to  Wellington,  126 ; 
his  tricks,  127;  "is  doing  very 
well,"  217  ;  his  temporising  plans, 
247  ;  his  style  in  speaking,  248  ; 
"  expert,  narrow,  and  wrong  as 
ever,"  251  ;  selected  as  leader  of 
Whigs,  265,  278,  290,  448 ; 
Wellington  on,  278  ;  his  motion  on 
the  Bank  forgeries,  292  ;  his  nick- 
name, 327 ;  Creevey's  attack  on, 
329*  330.  336  ;  Brougham  his 
fellow-counsellor,  344  ;  and  Decaze, 
346 ;    his    inveterate    folly,    347 ; 


attempts     to     enlist     Creevey     as 

Addington's  supporter,  352  ;  "the 

Venerable,"  465  ;  P.C,  483 
Tighe,  Lady  Louisa,  526,  527 
Tighe,  Mrs.,  429 
Tighe  of  Woodstock,   Hon.  W.  F., 

524,  526,  527 
Tunes,  357,  390,  561,  562,   565,  579, 

599,  650,  652,  658 
Tindal,  328 

Titchfield,  Lord,  413,  442 
Tomline,   George    (previously  Prety- 

man).  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  202 
Tooke,  Home,  60,  61 
Tories,    under    Pitt,    3  ;  and   Roman 

Catholic  Emancipation,  535 
Torres  Vedras,  131 
Towneley,  Charles,  654 
Towneley,  Lady  Caroline  {^nce  Moly- 

neux),  654 
Townshend,  Lord  John,  13,  125,  184 
Trafalgar,  44,  69 
Traveller,  342 
Trippe,  Baron,  221 
Tufnell,  81 

Tullamore,  Lord,  630 
Turkey,    and     Greece,     475  ;       and 

Russia,  481 
Twiss,  Horace,  354 
Tynte,  Mr.  Kemeys-,  G55 
Tyrone,    Earl   of    (ist    Marquess   of 

Waterford),  469 
Tyrrell,  John,  578 

Tyrwhitt,    Sir   Thomas,   Black  Rod, 
,  329,  340,    462  ;  the  Queen's  trial, 

306  ;  George  IV. 's  illness,  446,  539 


U 


Ulm,  capitulation  of,  44,  45 
Ultras,  the,  489 

Useful  Knowledge,  Library  of,  549 
Uxbridge,   Earl   of    (afterwards  2nd 
Marquess  of  Anglesey),  230,  573 


Valenciennes,  2S2,  283 

Van  de  Weyer,  Belgian  Minister,  671 

VanMerlen,  General,  230 

Vane,  Mr.,  438 

Vane-Tempest,  Bart.,  Sir  Harry,  4O0 

Vansittart,  N.  (afterwards  Lord 
Bcxley),  "  Mouldy,"  114,  262,  342, 
471  ;  on  Whitbread's  death,  242  ; 
his  attempt  to  punish  Creevey,  351 


710 


INDEX. 


Vaughan,  "  Hat,"  208,  236 

Verbyst,  293 

Vernon,  Edward  Venables,  Arch- 
bishop of  York,  328,  337 

Vernon,  Sir  Charles,  162,  405 

Verona  Congress,  394,  402,  404 

Victor,  Marshal,  190,  223,  225 

Victoria,  Queen,  343,  393,  570,  599, 
652,  663-678  ;  her  accession,  664  ; 
her  reception  of  Lyndhurst,  665  ; 
Melbourne's  health,  667  ;  Creevey 
presented  to,  668 ;  Hayter  the 
artist,  672  ;  Melbourne  on,  674  ; 
and  Durham,  677  ;  her  generosity 
to  the  Fitzclarences  and  Sir  John 
Lade,  677,  678 

Vienna  Congress,  213 

Villa  Real,  Marquess,  509 

Villeneuve,  Admiral,  69 

Villiers,  John,  136,  140 

Villiers,  Viscount,  653 

Vimeira,  battle  of,  237 

Viotti,  the  violinist,  14S 

Vitry,  280 

Vittoria,  battle  of,  535 

Vivian,  Sir  Hussey,  afterwards  Lord, 

309 
VoeykoflF,  Mdlle,,  69 
Voltaire,  2 


W 

Waithman,     Robert,    129-131,     341, 

360 
Walcheren  Expedition,    93,    95,    96, 

118,  124,  127,  129,  131,  250 
Waldegrave,  Countess,  246 
Waldegrave,  Earl,  246,  609 
Walker,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  528 
Wallachia,  481 
Walpole,  George,  47 
Walpole,  Horace,  505,  603,  609 
Walpole  Sir  Robert,  588,  609 
Walsham,  Lady,  577 
Walter,     M.P.    for    Berkshire,    pro- 
prietor of  Times,  650 
Ward,  John  William.     See   Dudley, 

1st  Earl  of 
Ward,  Lord,  2nd  Earl  of  Dudley,  675 
Ward,  Robert,  45 
Wardle,  Colonel,  97,  112,   113,  115, 

116 
Warner,  66,  68 
Warren,    Charles,    lawyer,    60,    113, 

350 
Warrender,  Lady  Julia  {nee  Maitland), 

209,  402 


Warrender,  of  Lochead,  Sir  George, 
4th  Baronet,    127,  402,   416,   509, 

553 
Warrender,    Sir   John,   5th   Baronet, 

209,  402,  418 
Warwick,  Lord,  247,  349 
Waterford,  Marchioness  of,  469 
Waterford,  ist  Marquess  of,  469 
Waterloo,  173,  230 
Waters,  Colonel,  loi 
Watley,  Colonel,  67 
Waverers,  the,  586 
Wear,  Whitbread's  valet,  242 
Webster,  Lady  Frances,  255 
Webster,  Sir  Godfrey,  255 
Weekly  Political  Register,    Cobbett's, 

89,  132,  133 

Weissenberg,  Herr,  604 

Wellesley,  Marchioness  of,  70,  590 

Wellesley,  Marquess  of,  95,  113,  164, 
175,  627,  630  ;  the  Copenhagen 
Expedition,  85 ;  attacks  on  his 
Indian  administration,  86,  90  ;  the 
revolution  in  Spanish  South 
America,  86,  118  ;  Whitbread 
hostile  to,  88  ;  Foreign  Secretary, 
96,  118  ;  "  the  Atlas  of  the  falling 
State,"  1123;  Portuguese  soldiers, 
130  ;  resigns  otifice,  153,  175  ;  and 
Lord  Holland,  154;  Prince  Regent 
and,  154,  156-159,  161, 163  ;  "  our 
new  patron,"  157  ;  Prime  Minister, 
158,  163  ;  and  Sheridan,  159  ;  and 
Canning,  161,  162  ;  Paull,  226  ; 
"there  seems  an  idea  of,"  358, 
362  ;  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland, 
405,  609,  670;  Reform  Bill,  589  ; 
letter  to  Creevey,  669 

Wellesley,  Sir  Henry,  Lord  Cowlev, 
218,  GOo,  662 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  "the  Beau," 
95,  113,  132,  148,  217,  260,  267, 
303.  307-  337,  360,  362,  384,  386, 
421,  459,  482,  576,  611,  615,  626, 
645  ;  Secretary  for  Ireland,  86  ; 
2nd  Peninsular  War,  87-90,  93 ; 
3rd  Peninsular  War,  passage  of  the 
Douro,  101-105,  109  ;  Talavera, 
107,  123,  125;  Perceval's  notice  of 
thanks,  124-127  ;  a  pension  for, 
128;  "Portuguese  are  now  the 
fighting  cocks  of  the  armj',"  128  ; 
Hutchinson  on,  130  ;  Torres  Ve- 
dras,  131  ;  Siege  of  Badajos,  145  ; 
Congreve's  rockets,  147  ;  siege  of 
Burgos,  173  ;  on  General  Murray's 
operations,  185  ;  in  winter  quarters 
on  French  soil,  187  ;  the  thanks  of 


INDEX. 


II 


the  House  of  Commons,  198  ; 
British  Plenipotentiary  at  Vienna 
Congress,  213;  predicts  a  Re- 
public in  Paris,  215,  226  ;  in  com- 
mand of  the  Allies  in  Belgium, 
218 ;  composition  of  his  forces, 
219  ;  Waterloo,  221-231,  235-239  ; 
Lord  Holland  v.,  246;  Kinnaird 
and  the  Marinet  incident,  273,  276  ; 
extracts  from  Creevey's  journal 
about,  276-289  ;  on  tlie  English 
Princes,  277  ;  on  Tierney,  27S  ;  on 
the  Prince  Regent's  figure,  279  ; 
Duke  of  Kent,  282,  2S4  ;  Riche- 
lieu, 285  ;  on  Grey  and  Lans- 
downe,  2S6  ;  Canning's  and  Whit- 
bread's  sparring  bout,  287  ;  with- 
draws Army  of  Occupation,  288  ; 
on  Lowe,  289  ;  his  "  scrape  "  when 
Lord  Lieutenant  of  Hants,  348  ; 
violent  against  Queen  Caroline, 
356  ;  ill,  391  ;  the  Verona  Congress, 
394,  402  ;  France  z'.  Spain,  406  ; 
and  Duke  of  York,  409  ;  and  Can- 
ning, 445,  453,  463,  477  ;  resigns 
Command  -  in  -  Chief,  446,  465  : 
Creevey's  confidence  in,  452  ;  re- 
signs office,  454,  455  ;  "  curious 
times  these,  Duke  !  "  463  ;  and 
Brougham,  464 ;  correspondence 
with  George  IV.  as  to  Com- 
mand-in-Chief,  465,  466 ;  Com- 
mander-in-Chief, 473,  477  ;  iden- 
tifying himself  with  the  Old  Tories, 
473  ;  Lady  Jersey  and,  475, 
574  ;  Goderich's  resignation,  483  ; 
Prime  Minister,  486,  495,  538 ; 
stands  firm,  4S9  ;  Grey  satisfied 
with,  493;  "will  do  capitally," 
494 ;  and  the  new  Buckingham 
Palace,  498  ;  his  view  of  Corn 
Laws,  500 ;  Huskisson's  resigna- 
tion, 500,  501  ;  and  George  IV., 
501  ;  his  "horrible  appointments," 
502 ;  and  the  Roman  Catholic 
question,  512,  532,  535,  536,  540, 
541  ;  recalls  Anglesey  from  Ireland, 
516,  535-537  ;  and  Lady  Louisa 
Tighe,  526 ;  his  intentions  about 
Ireland,  52S  ;  duel  with  Winchilsea, 
541,  542  ;  a  fall  from  his  horse, 
543  ;  Brougham  on,  550  ;  in  tip- 
top spirits,  552  ;  and  William  IV., 
554,  638,  640  ;  at  opening  of  Liver- 
pool and  Manchester  Railway,  555  ; 
on  Brougham  as  Chancellor,  560  ; 
and  Sir  John  Shelley,  564  ;  George 
IV. 's    executor,     575,     662  ;     the 


Ordnance  tents,  575  ;  Lord  Hill 
votes  against,  582  ;  fails  to  form 
Ministry,  586,  588,  589  ;  mobbed, 
590  ;  the  Irish  Church  Bill,  600 ; 
at  Lord  Cowley's  wedding,  605  ; 
Chancellor  of  Oxford  Universitj, 
621  ;  Mrs.  Arbuthnot's  death,  628  ; 
removes  Duke  of  Clarence  from 
office  of  Lord  High  Admiral,  642  ; 
his  evidence  before  Flogging  Com- 
mission, 652  ;  Mrs.  Fitzherbert, 
661,  662 

li'elliitgton  Despatches,  Civil  and 
Military,  87,  128,  13 1,  185,  273, 
304.  395.  465.  466,  656,  657, 
666 

Werneck,  44 

Western,  Charles  Callis  ("  Squire 
Western"),  created  Baron  Western 
ofKavenhall,  114,  313,  339,  327, 
578,  652  ;  on  the  Castlereagh- 
Canning  duel,  98 ;  Folkestone 
and  Mrs.  Clarke,  115,  116;  on 
Brougham's  Treaty  of  Paris  speech, 
249  ;  "no  superior  mind  amongst 
us,"  25 1  ;  on  agricultural  depression, 
etc.,  252  ;  Queen  Caroline's  trial, 
310  ;  on  the  almndonment  of  thi- 
Divorce  clause,  319  ;  on  Cobbett, 
334  ;  at  the  Lord  Mayor's  dinner, 
340  ;  his  letters  to  Creevey,  98, 
249,  251,  319,  334 

Westmacott,  editor  of   7'hc  Age,  542 

Westminster,  2nd  Marquess  of,  602 

West  minster  Reviciu,  440 

Westmorland,  Earl  of,  159,  447,  454, 
470,  5V> 

Wetherell,  Sir  Charles,  Attorney- 
General,  566,  590 

Wharncliffe,  Lord,  584,  586 

Whateley,  Councillor,  573 

Whetham,  General,  150 

Whigs,  under  Grenville,  3  ;  schism 
between  Radicals  and,  260  ;  their 
fusion  with  the  Canningite  Ministry, 

477 

Whishaw,  J.,  5,  in,  138,  250 

Whitbrcad,  Lady  Elizabeth,  109,  157, 
196,  495 

Whitbread,  Miss,  139 

Whitbread,  Samuel,  13,  14,  34,  114, 
12S,  139,  141,  156,  157,  173,  1S2, 
185,  207,  217,  459  ;  Sheridan  and 
Adair,  22  ;  impeachment  of  Mel- 
ville, 33,  88  ;  the  Bo3d,  Benfield 
and  Co.  incident,  35,  36  ;  opposes 
war  policy  of  Government,  88  ; 
C intra    Convention,  89  ;    and   Sir 

3  i' 


712 


INDEX. 


Arthur  Wellesley,  103-105  ;  dis- 
cusses nothing  but  politics  with 
Creevey,  109;  and  Tierney,  no, 
112  ;  tire  "  old  trader,"  118  ;  Pon- 
sonby  and,  121  ;  "stout  and 
strong,"  123  ;  the  Walcheren  Ex- 
pedition, 131  ;  Creevey's  advice  as 
to  Office,  137,  140 ;  his  offer  to 
Creevey,  142,  143 ;  his  projected 
exclusion  from  the  Cabinet,  158, 
183;  and  R.  B.  Sheridan,  159, 
164,  165,  180;  Brougham,  177; 
the  only  peacemaker,  179  ;  his  two 
capital  blunders,  181  ;  correspond- 
ence with  Tom  Sheridan,  190; 
Princess  Charlotte  and  Prince  of 
Orange,  197  ;  against  grant  to 
Wellington,  198;  Princess  of 
Wales'  letter  to,  and  his  reply, 
200,  201  ;  his  strange  backward- 
ness about  Westminster,  204;  "all 
for  Boney,"  214  ;  commits  suicide, 
240-244,  249,  383,  384,  386 ;  a 
sparring  bout  with  Canning,  287  ; 
Grey  and,  460 ;  his  letters  to 
Creevey,  88-90,  94,  99,  in,  117, 

193.  195.  199 
Whitbread,    Samuel,  son   of   above, 

413 

Whitbread,  William,  413 

Whitworth,  Lord,  British  Ambas- 
sador at  Paris,  stormy  interview 
with  Napoleon,  10  ;  leaves  Paris, 
13  ;  his  liaison  at  St.  Petersburg, 
67 

Wilberforce,  William,  M. P.  lor  Hull, 
36,  99  ;  an  inimitable  speech  for 
peace,  15;  and  Brougham,  30; 
Sydney  Smith  on,  167  ;  his  opinion 
of  Whitbread,  242  ;  on  exclusion 
of  Queen  Caroline's  name  from 
Liturgy,  306  ;  and  Lord  John  Rus- 
sell, 309 ;  a  frustrated  intention, 
418 

Wilbraham,  298 

Wilde,  Sir  Thomas  (afterwards  Lord 
Truro),  328 ;  present  at  Queen 
Caroline's  death,  363,  364 ;  her 
funeral  arrangements,  366 

Wilkie,  Sir  David,  664 

William  IV.,  Duke  of  Clarence,  46, 
47,  50,  62,  190,  277,  314,  345,  441, 
667  ;  letter  to  Creevey,  32  ;  present 
at  the  Pearce-Gully  prize-fight,  64  ; 
and  the  Bank  Note  Bill,  146 ; 
Duke  of  Kent  on,  268-270  ;  ill, 
272  ;  "  that  Prince  of  Black- 
guards," 298  ;  his  vote  v.    Queen 


Caroline.  339;  "our  Billy  is  a 
wag,"  446  ;  /C9000  a  year  for,  448  j 
and  Lady  Sefton,  554  ;  his  wish 
to  b:  comfortable,  566  ;  dismisses 
Seymour  and  Meynell  from  his- 
household,  567  ;  "I  beg  you  won't 
kneel.  Lord  Derby,"  568  ;  Grey's 
appeal  for  dissolution,  569-571  ;  at 
the  Opera,  570 ;  his  greeting  to 
Creevey,  571  ;  and  Grey,  573,586- 
588,  616,  618,  628  ;  his  Corona- 
tion, 577;  and  the  6,  Duchess  of 
Kent,  580  ;  peer-making,  583,  586, 
587  ;  the  Reform  Bill,  586,  606  ; 
commands  Wellington  to  form  ad- 
ministration, 586 ;  and  Brougham,. 
588,  660 ;  his  gracious  behaviour 
to  Creevey,  600-602  ;  "  exactly  so. 
Ma'am,"  604  ;  at  Olivia  de  Ros' 
wedding,  605  ;  sends  for  Mel- 
bourne, 624-626,  627  ;  and  Coke's 
speech  against  George  IIL,  636  ^ 
dismisses  Melbourne,  sends  for 
Wellington,  638-640 ;  reprimanded 
and  removed  (when  Duke  of 
Clarence)  from  office  of  Lord 
High  Admiral,  642 ;  his  70th 
birthday,  650  ;  his  death,  663  ;  his 
last  act,  664  ;  his  generosity  to  Sit 
John  Lade,  677 

Williams,  John,  381 

W^illiams,  Owen,  99,  11 1 

Williams,  Sir  Thomas  Hanburv,  380^ 
381 

Williamson,  Sir  Hedworlh,  423 

Willoughby,  d'Eresby,  Lady  (Dow- 
ager, Lady  Gwydyr),  311 

Wilmot,  a  house-painter  at  Warwick,. 
339 

Wilson,  the  artist,  663 

Wilson,  M.P.  for  City,  278 

Wilson,  General  Sir  Robert  ( "  Jaffa  " 
Wilson),  240,  36S,  374,  406,  410, 
437,  449,  6n  ;  History  of  the 
British  Expedition  to  Egypt,  312  ; 
letter  from  Taylor  to,  432 

Wilson,  Harriet,  294 

Wilson,  Richard,  642 

Wilson,  .Sir  M,,  456 

Wilton,  Lady  Mary  Stanley,  Countess 

of,  305,  390,  423.  425,  545 
Wilton,  3rd  Earl  of,  423,  424,  442, 

470,  471 
Winchester,  Lord  Mayor,  650 
Winchilsea,  Countess  of  {nee  Bagot), 

671 
Winchilsea,    9th    Earl    of,    his    duel 

with  Wellington,  541,  542 


INDEX. 


7^3 


Windham,  Mr.,  9,  19-21,  38,  397 

Windsor,  Mrs.,  47 

Winslow,  Lord,  62 

W^olcoU,  John,  "Peter  Pindar,"  77u' 

Lous/ad,  371 
Wood,    Alderman,    his     support    of 

Queen  Caroline,  202,  302,  318,  356, 

359,  360 
Wood,   Mr.,  Lord  Grey's  Secretary, 

584.  591.  592 
Woodville,  Mrs.,  279^ 
Woronzow,  Count,  2S3-285 
Wortley,  160,  442 
Wrights,  the,  112,  113,  115 
Wyatt,  the  architect,  631 
Wykeham,  Miss,  272 
Wyndham,  General  Sir  Plenry,  507 
Wyndham,  Plon.  Charles,  506 
Wyndham,  Hon.  Mrs.  (daughter    of 

Lord  Charles  Somerset),  507 
Wyndham,  Hon.  William,  506 
Wyndham,  Miss,  506 
Wynn,       Rt.      Hon.      Charles     W. 

Williams,  128,  194,  214,  271,  412, 

455.  „.       , 

Wynn,  Sir  W  .  ^\  .,  282,  373 


Yarborough,  Lord,  308 

Yarmouth,  Earl  of,  150,  533  :  Castle- 
reagh's  second  in  duel  with  Can- 
ning, 97  ;  Sheridan  and,  146,  19S  ; 
Prince  Regent  and,  149  ;  the 
Courier,  179;  "preaches  peace  at 
the  corners  of  all  the  streets,"  214 

York,  Duchess  of,  182,  183,  305,  369 

York,  Duke  of,  17,  31,  34,  44,  53» 
123,  146,  150,  294,  297,  345>  349> 
403,  421,  431,  442,  499,  667  ;  Com- 
mander-in-Chief, 63  ;  Prmce  of 
Wales  and,  63,  159  ;  Mrs.  Clarke, 
97,  112,  115,  124,  151,  310,  344; 
motion  to  reinstate  as  Commander- 
in-Chief,  140,  147  ;  his  debts,  209  ; 
"so  tipsy,"  1S4  ;  Duke  of  Kent  on, 
268,  271  ;  "won't  live  long,"  298  ; 
Queen  Caroline's  trial,  314,  339  • 
Lauderdale's  story,  369  ;  at  Ascot, 
419  ;  the  insidious  Scroop,  420  ; 
his  natural  son,  439  ;  building  a 
new  palace,  441  ;  his  death  and 
funeral,  446,  448 
Yorke,  Mr.,  127,  137 
Young,      Mr.,      Lord     Melbourne  s 

Secretary,  653 
Younger,  an  English  merchant  Irom 
Riga,  632 


THE   END. 


J-KIh-IED   BV   WILLIAM    CLOWES   AND   SONS,    LIMITED,    LONDON   AND   DECCLES. 


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